V-22 Osprey performing as an aerial refueling tanker
The V-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft, a product of strategic alliance between Bell Helicopter, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc. company and Boeing Defense, Space & Security, successfully completed the first flight test as an aerial refuelling tanker. The V-22 Osprey is a combat-proven tilt rotor that can fly horizontally at high speeds and high altitudes like a fixed-wing aircraft as also take off and land vertically like a helicopter. In this flight test conducted over North Texas, a V-22 equipped with a prototype aerial refuelling system safely deployed and retracted the refuelling drogue as an F/A-18C and an F/A-18D Hornet flew just behind and to the side of the aircraft. The capability to function as an aerial refuelling tanker will impart greater versatility in combat, humanitarian and ship-based operations. This platform will be able to execute a wider variety of missions with greater flexibility and autonomy maximizing the efficient use of aircraft and personnel. Future flight tests will place the aircraft in a fuel-receiving position directly behind the V-22, connect the receiver aircraft with the refuelling drogue and ultimately refuel a variety of aircraft in flight.
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