By Robbin Laird
V-22 modernization efforts are essential to enable the Osprey to remain in service for the next thirty years.
One important ongoing effort is the Nacelle Improvement Program. In an earlier interview with David Albin, the Nacelle Readiness Program Manager at Bell, we discussed the key aspects of the program. The focus of the engineering redesign effort is to improve the operational characteristics of the Osprey’s nacelle.
Albin underscored: “The redesign focused both on service components to reduce the need for in-service repairs, like cracked frame stations, cracked baffles, the hinges and latches were all improved, so that maintainers would have to spend less time dealing with these components and their follow-on effects on the aircraft – such as vibration in flight, which could cause the doors to open and potentially depart the aircraft, for example.”
He continued: “The Bell Reliability & Maintainability Team used the data which had been accumulated from the operational fleet to determine what components or areas on the aircraft would benefit most from redesign. Based on this analysis, the engineers completed the redesign, and the NI program has subsequently delivered reduced maintenance man-hour rates and enhanced reliability.”
I also had a chance to talk more about V-22 modernization priorities with Chris Seymour and Kurt Fuller of Bell during Navy League meetings held the first week of April 2025.
I first met Seymour at MCAS New River during his last week of active-duty service in the USMC in the summer of 2013. He is now Vice President of Strategic Pursuits at Bell.
Kurt Fuller currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Military Fielded Programs. Kurt has been the program director of the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey since April 2020 and the H-1 since August 2024.
Fuller underscored that the nacelle improvement program was the result of the engagement of many USMC and USAF maintainers who identified that for them the redesign and rebuild of the nacelle was the number one change in the aircraft which would significantly increase aircraft availability.
USAF maintainers, as the first service to receive the new design, have validated this in terms of their operational experience with the improved nacelle and its impact on the readiness of the aircraft.
Fuller recounted a conversation he had with USAF maintainers at Cannon Air Force Base that validated the positive impact of the new nacelles on aircraft availability. They told him if an Osprey with the new nacelle posts a fault as the aircraft is being powered up, they tell the pilots they will need about an hour to have the aircraft ready to go. If they experience a similar fault working with a legacy nacelle, the maintainers pull the aircraft from the flight schedule and typically end up troubleshooting for the rest of the day.
Nacelle improvement is a great example of a small but impactful upgrade to the aircraft. But other mid-life improvements are also being considered. Among the potential upgrades being discussed, the following stand out: power generation, nacelle wiring, infrared suppression, engine air intake, ice protection systems, improved blade performance, oil cooling, aircraft structures, passive thermal, acoustic, and vibratory management (TAV). While not a comprehensive list, these items are similar in scope to what has been required to keep other extremely important aircraft like the B-52 and CH-47 viable and relevant for decades.
One interesting upgrade that is being carefully examined would lay the foundation for a whole new way to incorporate rapid improvements onto the Osprey at a cost the program can afford.
This change involves digital interoperability, and it requires building a digital backbone into the aircraft. Called modular open systems approach, or MOSA, the new approach refers to the way the U.S. Army and Bell are tackling the challenge of keeping pace with technology over the entire life cycle of the Army’s new future long range assault aircraft (FLRAA).
A MOSA digital backbone for the Osprey would make upgrades and obsolescence management much cheaper and faster than the current aircraft systems allow. As Seymour explained: “If you have an open system approach you can download a software capability to the mission computer and run it resident on the hardware that is already on the aircraft.”
Seymour underscored that with the Army leading the way with MOSA on FLRAA, and with the USMC interested in replacing its H-1s down the road with an advanced tiltrotor variant of FLRAA, having MOSA on the V-22 would mean that the Marines could manage both aircraft in similar ways in terms of upgrade design.
Legacy aircraft are typically designed with tightly coupled proprietary processing system and architecture. These legacy aircraft operate with a combination of many individual systems with an array of black boxes and associated hardware and software. When one item is changed to the aircraft flight control or mission control system, it is often necessary to rework the integration on another or even several other systems on the aircraft.
The demand for faster data rates and new capabilities is pushing advancements in technology, such as high-performance versions. MOSA will decouple applications so one can change systems, qualify them, and field them much more rapidly. A MOSA digital backbone will allow the aircraft to shed some black boxes and host new capabilities via cards on the backbone. The result will be a lighter aircraft with more rapid upgrades at lower cost.
The upfront investment in rebuilding the Osprey around a digital backbone will ultimately pay for itself by facilitating a much more rapid implementation process as new technologies evolve. With MOSA, the V-22 will be able to rapidly incorporate systems and payloads that would otherwise be beyond the program’s reach.
And, with the proliferation of new and exciting payloads being developed, with weapons being integrated using apps, and a robust autonomous revolution underway, it makes a great deal of sense to empower this flexible aircraft to expand its multi-mission, “everything” capabilities by increasing its ability to embrace new technologies going forward.
The Deputy Commandant of Aviation Down Under: Plan Jericho Marine Corps Style