The Navy established Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron (USVRON) 7 on April 25 during a ceremony at Naval Base San Diego, operating under Commander of Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (CNSP).
Led by Cmdr. Matthew Martinez, USVRON 7 will oversee a fleet of small unmanned surface vessels (sUSVs), including the 16-foot Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARCs), built by Maritime Applied Physics Corporation
.
Two Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC) from Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron 3 (USVRON 3) operate remotely in San Diego Bay ahead of the unit’s establishment ceremony. (Photo: U.S. Navy by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Claire M. DuBois)
The Navy uses the GARCs for research, test and operations that allow integration throughout the Navy, expeditionary and joint maritime forces.
The service added that by using the GARCs, the squadron aims to provide more warfighting capability and capacity to augment the traditional combatant force via more range and capabilities to increase tactical advantages.
This comes a year after the Navy established USV Squadron (USVRON) 3 last year (Defense Daily, May 20, 2024).
The service specifically characterized USVRON 7’s mission as delivering “the most formidable, unmanned platforms in the maritime domain. USVRON 7 innovates through resilient distributed systems in a bandwidth-limited or denied environment.”
Martinez said USVRON 7 will focus on advancing unmanned capabilities, but underscored the human operators, technicians and planners are just as necessary as the craft,
“Sailors are our center of gravity and enable our efforts in this new era of unmanned robotic warfare…We will bring the manned-unmanned hybrid fleet to life.”
USVRON 7 is incorporating the newest sailor rating, the robotics warfare (RW) specialist, into their teams. The Navy said this rating will enable Robotic Autonomous System (RAS) operations and maintenance at the tactical edge and be the subject matter experts for mission autonomy, navigation autonomy, data systems, artificial intelligence, and machine learning on the unmanned platforms.
USVRON 7 reports to Surface Development Group (SURFDEVGRU) 1, under the direction of Commodore Capt. Garrett Miller.
Miller said the establishment of the latest USV squadron “is a pivotal step in advancing the U.S. Navy’s hybrid fleet that integrates manned and unmanned systems in maintaining maritime dominance. It’s another shining example of our commitment to the future of robotic and autonomous systems and greatly contributes to multiple Navy lines of effort, including enhanced maritime domain awareness, sea denial and mission flexibility in contested environments.”
The service describes SURFDEVGRU 1 as overseeing maintenance, training and manning oversight for Zumwalt-class destroyers, USVs, and other “surface warfare ships of the future.”
The Pentagon has begun a 90-day “sprint” to develop a plan for more rapidly assessing and acquiring software, according to a new memo.
Katie Arrington, the acting DoD chief information officer, has signed a directive establishing the Software Fast Track (SWFT) initiative and the department has released three Request for Information seeking industry’s input on tools, assessment methodologies and artificial intelligence capabilities that can help speed up the process of varying new software capabilities.
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Urich Garcia, 45th Security Forces Squadron supra coder, writes code in an application on April 25th at Patrick Space Force Base, Fla. Supra coders design and manage software for the United States Space Force (U.S. Space Force Photo)
“Current systems for software procurement were developed for a different environment and using processes that are outdated and slow, with little to no supply chain visibility,” DoD said in a statement on Monday. “Improving our ability to bring high quality secure software to the Warfighter rapidly will greatly increase the lethality and resilience of the Joint Force.”
The SWFT initiative builds on a memo Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed in March directing the department to “maximize” the use of existing rapid acquisition authorities to speed up the delivery of software capabilities, to include utilizing the Software Acquisition Pathway as the “preferred” tool for software development and Other Transaction Authority agreements and Commercial Solutions Openings (CSO) as the “default solicitation and award approaches” for acquiring capabilities (Defense Daily, March 7).
The 90-day sprint laid out in Arrington’s memo specifically directs her office to develop a framework and implementation for cyber security and supply chain risk management requirements, “rigorous” software security verification processes, secure information sharing mechanisms and “federal government-led risk determinations to expedite the cyber security authorizations for secure, rapid software adoption.”
“Lengthy, outdated cyber security authorization processes frustrate agile, continuous delivery. Additionally, widespread use of open-source software, with contributions from developers worldwide, presents a significant and ongoing challenge. The fact that the Department currently lacks visibility into the origins and security of software code hampers software security assurance,” Arrington writes in her memo.
The RFIs published on May 2 seek to gather industry’s perspectives on “risk criteria for consistent, secure and accelerated risk assessments,” details on existing external assessment methodologies to “support rigorous software security verification processes” and how automation and AI capabilities can assist “DoD-led risk assessment for expedited cybersecurity authorizations.”
Arrington previously led the Pentagon’s effort during the first Trump administration to establish new cyber security requirements for DoD contracting, but was placed on leave and had her security clearance revoked for allegedly sharing classified information from a military intelligence agency. Arrington then reached a settlement with the government in February 2022 and ultimately resigned from the Pentagon. Details of Arrington’s prior suspension have remained classified.
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee has signaled support for the Army’s new, wide-ranging transformation plan, which has included cutting several major programs, calling it “a positive step.”
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the House Armed Services Committee ranking member, is one of the first senior national security-focused lawmakers to comment on the new Army Transformation Initiative, while noting Congress is still awaiting specifics on the planned divestments.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, learns about the capabilities and functions of the M1 Abrams Tank on Pabrade Training Area, Lithuania, August 12, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Joshua Thorne)
“While we still need to receive the details and review the justification for what is specifically being proposed for termination or divestment, I believe this announcement is a positive step in an important conversation about how we best meet the Army’s requirements in an efficient and effective manner. I look forward to reviewing the details of this plan, and to working with [Army] Secretary [Dan] Driscoll to assist in his efforts to redesign the Army,” Smith said in a statement.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week ordered the Army to cut “outdated weapon systems” as part of a new memo that directed sweeping changes across the service, with the service’s leaders confirming plans to cancel procurement of the M10 Booker combat vehicle, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, Humvees, the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter and Gray Eagle drones (Defense Daily, May 1).
Driscoll and Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, have said the planned cuts are part of the Army’s new “Army Transformation Initiative” that will “re-examine all requirements and eliminate unnecessary ones” and also includes merging the modernization-focused Futures Command with Training and Doctrine Command, prioritizing acquisition reforms and converting all Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) to new Mobile BCTs (Defense Daily, May 1).
Hegseth’s memo also called on the Army to field unmanned systems and launched effects with every division by the end of next year.
Smith has long advocated for the military services to pivot away from outdated requirements and embrace emerging technologies as the characteristics of warfare change, to include drones and advanced command and control capabilities.
“I applaud Secretary Driscoll’s and General George’s recent announcement regarding the Army Transformation Initiative. As I have said in the past, we must reform the acquisition system within the Department of Defense. That goes further than how and what we buy, it also means eliminating programs that don’t meet requirements or are not suited for the modern battlefield,” Smith said.
About 3,000 Pratt & Whitney machinists went on strike early Monday morning after most union members rejected the company’s final offer for wage and benefit increases.
RTX [RTX], P&W’s parent company, said on Sunday in a message to members of the Connecticut International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) that no further meetings between the company and union are currently scheduled.
The union said that P&W “failed to adequately address the membership’s top concerns about wage and retirement security and offered nothing to improve job security.”
The union highlighted P&W’s strong financial results in the first quarter of 2025.
“Pratt & Whitney is a powerhouse in military and commercial aerospace products because our membership makes it so,” David Sullivant, general vice president of the IAM Eastern Territory, said in a statement. “This offer does not address the membership concerns, and the membersip made their decision, we will continue to fight for a fair contract.”
RTX said it has implemented a contingency plan to continue operations with “all means available.”
Workers representing IAM Locals 700 and 1746, District 26, are striking at manufacturing plants in East Hartford and Middleton, where P&W builds engines for commercial and military aircraft, including the F-35 fighter.
The company’s offer included combined wage and overtime increases of 5.1 percent, 4.5 percent, and 4.1 percent, respectively, over three years. A $5,000 cash bonus and improvements in pension and savings plan benefits, and new shift schedules were also part of the offer.
Jefferies aerospace and defense analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said in a client note on Monday that the last time P&W’s Connecticut union went on strike was in 2001 for nine days.
The Defense Department in March successfully conducted its second flight test of a reusable uncrewed hypersonic vehicle that landed after exceeding Mach 5, a key milestone in increasing the cadence for hypersonic testing, the department said on Monday.
The Stratolaunch-built Talon-A2 hypersonic vehicle, which was air launched from the company’s Roc carrier aircraft, was powered by Ursa Major’s 5,000-pound thrust Hadley liquid rocket engine, and represented the second successful sustained hypersonic flight test for the vehicle and engine in three months. The March test followed the first, which occurred in December, proving reuse of the Talon-A2 and the Hadley engine.
In both tests the Talon-A2 flew over the Pacific Ocean, reached speeds above Mach 5, and then landed at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. Stratolaunch said the second landing was autonomous.
DoD said the new campaign is the first for hypersonic flight testing since the manned X-15 program in the 1960s.
“Demonstrating the reuse of fully recoverable hypersonic test vehicles is an important milestone for MACH-TB,” George Rumford, director of the Test Resource Management Center of the DoD Office of Research and Engineering, said in a statement. “Lessons learned from this test campaign will help us reduce vehicle turnaround time from months down to weeks.”
MACH-TB stands for Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonics Test Bed that is managed by Leidos [LDOS] under contract to Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane, Ind. Leidos awarded Stratolaunch a competitive contract for the flight test services.
In March 2024, Stratolaunch’s Talon-A1 test vehicle, also powered by a Hadley engine, demonstrated safe air-launch release from the Roc, engine ignition, sustained climb in altitude, and a controlled water landing during a high subsonic flight (Defense Daily, March 11, 2024).
“We’ve now demonstrated hypersonic speed, added the complexity of a full runway landing with prompt payload recover, and proven reusability,” Zachary Krevor, president and CEO of Stratolaunch, said in a statement.
Hadley is fueled by liquid oxygen and kerosene and is being offered by Ursa Major for small vehicles or hypersonic applications. The engine is in production.
“Ursa Major is answering the call from our military and government partners to innovate and meet the mission to provide critical national security capabilities, while continuing to assert ourselves as a hypersonics category leader for the warfighter,” Dan Jablonsky, the company’s CEO, said in a statement.
The successful Hadley-powered flight tests give Ursa Major confidence in the performance of its sister engine, Draper, a 4,000-pound thrust liquid engine the company is developing that is safely storable like a solid rocket motor but with the capabilities of a liquid-fueled engine. The maiden flight test of Draper is slated for later this year (Defense Daily, May 2).
L3Harris Technologies [LHX] recently received a more than $5.5 million U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) follow-on field engineering services contract for the company’s ALQ-172 electronic countermeasures system on B-52H bombers at Barksdale AFB, La., and Minot AFB, N.D.
The contract is to cover the provision of “AN/USM-464A countermeasures test sets, accessory Sets, test program interface hardware and test program set software required to produce ALQ-172(V)2 Electronic Countermeasures Line Replaceable Units on B-52H aircraft,” according to a Friday Air Force business notice
on the Apr. 29 award.
“The primary purpose is to provide on-site proficiency training, technical guidance, and engineering services in the evaluation of unusual field problems and render emergency technical advice specifically to the ALQ-172(V)2 systems to minimize the time required to test aircraft and increase testing effectiveness resulting in increased aircraft availability and B-52H mission effectiveness,” the Air Force said.
The service argued in a justification and approval (J&A) document that not awarding a continuing field engineering sole source contract to L3Harris for the ALQ-172 would significantly increase costs.
“Although several companies have the capability to perform the follow-on B-52 AN/ALQ-172(V)2 Field Support contract, no company has the proprietary and classified information required to perform the actions listed in the contract,” the Air Force said. “The contractor has fully-trained and cleared technicians in place. They possess the proprietary and classified information required to support all terms of the contract.”
A subject matter expert technical evaluation “estimated that replacing the [ALQ-172] system with a similar capability would cost approximately $84 million,” the J&A said. “The cost and time required to produce a new electronic countermeasures system would make the contract significantly more expensive for the government compared to continuing to use sole sources for the next few years. In addition to the proposal preparation cost, a new contractor would require a phase-in period of up to twelve months in order to obtain the necessary work permits, security clearances, and the purchase of specialized equipment required by the contract. Competition could not recover these costs or the additional time required. This delay would result in many B-52 aircraft being unable to perform nuclear, conventional, training, and test missions.”
L3Harris’ site in Clifton, N.J., has been supporting the ALQ-172 after a 2021 Air Force contract for up to $947 million over 10 years for the system’s modernization, engineering, and sustainment for AFGSC (DefenseDaily, Sept. 1, 2021).
The Air Force’s 76 B-52Hs rely on a variety of electronic warfare (EW) systems against threats, such as air defense radars. Current B-52 EW systems include the ALQ-172 and the Northrop Grumman [NOC] AN/ALQ-155.
Lockheed Martin [LMT] MC-130 Combat Talons and AC-130 gunships have also carried ALQ-172s.
“Continuous upgrades to the ALQ-172 have incorporated geolocation situational awareness capability on the B-52, advanced counter-measures in response to modern threats, and new technologies to improve performance, maintainability, and supportability,” L3Harris has said. “The ALQ-172(V)3 provides extended frequency coverage required to counter new and emerging threats. Looking to the future, L3Harris is developing the next ALQ-172 system upgrade designed to meet the needs of the B-52 and its crew through 2040. The ALQ-172 MARS upgrade reduces system weight and power requirements while further improving system performance, maintainability, and reliability. MARS improves system performance by adding the latest processing and digital receivers through the use of FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array)-based technology.”
Malfunctions in and repair of the ALQ-172 once caused the highest cost per flying hour of any system on the B-52 before changes made to the ALQ-172 in the late 1990s, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
NATO in June plans to host an Innovation Challenge for solutions that can counter drones that rely on fiber optic cable for control by an operator, a capability Russian forces in late 2024 introduced in their war against Ukraine to avoid jamming.
NATO’s Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) unit seeks solutions from industry and academia that exist or are in development with a focus on detection and prioritization, guidance and tracking, and neutralization, HQ SACT says in a new Request for Innovative Participation.
Following Russia’s use of the fiber optic-controlled first person view (FPV) drones, Ukrainian forces adopted the same technology.
“These drones are resistant to electronic warfare and jamming due to the use of fiber-optic tethered communication links,” the NATO notice says. “This advancement, first recorded in the Kursk region and later expanded across Donetsk and Zaporizhia, has escalated the threat level, presenting new challenges for NATO and its partners. EW counter-UAS systems are ineffective against this type of drone. The combination of high maneuverability, jamming immunity, and low visual and radar signature makes these drones particularly dangerous to frontline troops and forward elements.”
Russia’s and Ukraine’s use of fiber optic-controlled FPV drones harkens back to a U.S. Army program called the Fiber Optic Guided-Missile (FOG-M), which was canceled in 1990. The FOG-M was being developed by then Hughes Aircraft Co., now part of RTX [RTX], to allow an operator to control the missile to defeat hidden tanks and armor threats.
HQ SACT says it will select up to 10 solutions from the responses, and then winnow that list following at “Pitch Day” on June 20. The purpose of the challenge is to learn more about potential solutions to the new type of FPV threat and could inform future requirements, concepts, or capability development.
NATO says there could be a follow-up prototyping and maturation phase from July through October.
Concept papers and technical summaries are due by May 30.
Anduril Industries has signed an agreement to purchase Klas, its first acquisition of a tactical computing and communication firm that it said will help bolster capability offerings for programs such as the Army’s forthcoming Solider Borne Mission Command (SBMC) effort.
“Klas is the best. They build the best products on the planet for the tactical edge. And they’re a global engineering and design company that’s known for its advanced communications and computing solutions that are designed for rugged and high stakes environments,” Tom Keane, Anduril’s senior vice president of engineering, told reporters in a briefing. [Klas is] incredibly excited to be becoming part of Anduril, to be able to move faster, to do more, to build new products and to reach more customers.”
Menace-T. Photo: Anduril.
Anduril on Monday also unveiled its new Menace-T solution, the latest product in its Menace expeditionary command and control family, that utilizes Klas’ Voyager compute solution and which Keane said has already been deployed “in multiple countries around the world.”
“[Menace-T] is a compact, two-case C4 system that can be deployed by a single operator and operational in minutes. No extra cables. No integration headaches. Just compute power in the most austere locations. Menace-T is resilient and secure connectivity in a form factor small enough to carry and rugged enough to survive the field,” Anduril said in a statement.
The deal for the Dublin, Ireland-based Klas, which is Anduril’s ninth total acquisition, is going through final regulatory approval in Europe and could be finalized “in about the next 30 days,” according to Keane. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Keane said that before deciding to acquire Klas Anduril “evaluated everyone in the marketplace.”
“This wasn’t a benchtop evaluation. It wasn’t a theoretical evaluation. We stood in the most challenging environments in the world. We stood in deserts. We stood on ships. We used all of these technologies and, quite honestly, they all failed apart from Klas,” Keane told reporters. “We expect that this acquisition will enhance Anduril’s capabilities in areas like body-worn computing, resilient communications, robust sensors that drive solutions faster.”
The acquisition of Klas will allow Anduril to extend its Lattice AI operating system “even further to the tactical edge,” Keane added.
“By unifying Anduril’s Lattice software platform, autonomy and sensor capabilities with Klas’ compute and networking infrastructure, we can deliver lightweight, mission-tailored systems that are faster to deploy, easier to maintain, and more resilient under pressure,” Anduril said in a statement. “Anduril can now adapt edge compute and comms to the specific needs of each mission, platform, or unit—reducing integration risk and getting critical tech into the hands of warfighters faster.”
Keane cited Voyager as Klas’ “flagship product,” which is already deployed on Anduril’s Menace expeditionary C4 platforms, calling it “the most powerful edge compute and communications platform out there.”
“Klas is best known for its Voyager line: a modular family of compute and networking systems built to survive extreme temperatures, jamming, dust and denied environments,” Anduril said in a statement.
The new Menace-T capability began as a concept about a year ago and Anduril had the first prototype ready about 90 days later, according to Keane, who described it as “the computing and communications platform that can power Lattice wherever you want to deploy Lattice.”
“Menace-T has enabled real-time targeting data relay, been deployed in ground vehicles, maritime vessels and more. It’s proven effective in joint environments, coalition operations, and austere conditions where traditional systems can’t operate,” Anduril said.
Keane told reporters he could not disclose where Menace-T has been deployed, only that it’s been used in “multiple countries across multiple hemispheres.”
“And we’ve also deployed it across multiple modalities. So we’ve deployed it in many different vehicles, so [in] on-the-move scenarios, and we’ve deployed it in vessels at sea on the move. We’ve deployed it in aerial mobility scenarios and in human portability scenarios,” Keane said.
Klas is also currently a subcontractor on the Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) program, according to Keane, which Anduril has been set to take over as the prime contractor from Microsoft [MSFT] (Defense Daily, Feb. 11).
“As we think about IVAS, for example, and you think about groups of soldiers at the squad, at the company and the brigade level can be working together, of course there are scenarios those soldiers need to communicate with the tactical edge to send data, to receive data, to task autonomous systems and that’s a place where the Klas technology can help,” Keane said.
The Army is currently pursuing SBMC as the IVAS follow-on effort, with plans to potentially award prototype agreements in late August (Defense Daily, April 11).
“We expect to do more there as part of Soldier Borne Mission Command to bring the best data to the soldier to allow that soldier to task and effect and to publish and subscribe the data,” Keane said.
Klas, which has around 150 employees, will continue operating from its facilities in Ireland and the U.S., according to Anduril, with investment banking firm Houlihan Lokey advising the acquisition deal.
“We want to expand everything that Klas is doing into many more modalities and many more environments,” Keane said. “This isn’t just about taking some existing technology. This is about expanding it pretty significantly to solve some very hard problems for the warfighter.”
The Navy on Friday said it conducted the first end-to-end flight test of the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile using the cold gas launch approach it plans to use off of submarines and surface ships.
The service said this was the next step in moving to have the Navy flight-test the common All Up Round (AUR) for the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB), which is otherwise being shared with the Army.
The Navy CPS and Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) share the same AUR and canister, but differ in launch methods.
The Navy plans to first field the CPS on the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) destroyer and ultimately field it on all three Zumwalt-class destroyers and later on Block V Virginia-class submarines with the Virginia Payload Module starting in the early 2030s.
In January, officials said they plan to start testing CPS on DDG-1000 by the end of 2025 after it finishes a modernization period that replaced its unused Advanced Gun System with four 87-inch large missile vertical launch tubes (Defense Daily, Jan. 16).
This Navy did not specify when this most recent test occurred, but it was at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla.
A Navy press release said the CPS program has been “diligently planning and executing engineering and test efforts” in preparation of the first hypersonic missile fielding on DDG-1000.
Before this recent flight test, the Navy program performed an “extensive test campaign” at an in-air launch test facility to validate launch approach before the test flight.
Vice Adm. Johnny R. Wolfe, Director of the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs, which is lead designer of the C-HGB, said this cold gas approach for launching the Navy version “allows the Navy to eject the missile from the platform and achieve a safe distance above the ship prior to first stage ignition.”
“This technical achievement brings SSP one step closer to fulfilling our role of providing a safe and reliable hypersonic capability to our Navy,” he continued.
The service said information gathered from this test will inform the continued development and production of the AUR and the first use of this cold-gas launch approach on the Zumwalt.
This test followed two successful tests of the full hypersonic AUR for both the Army and Navy purposes in 2024, the most recent one in December (Defense Daily, Dec. 13, 2024).
“The speed, range, and survivability of hypersonic weapons are key to integrated deterrence for America. When fielded, Conventional Prompt Strike will deliver unmatched capabilities to our warfighters,” Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said in a statement.
The V-22 Joint Program Office manager expects the Ospreys to finally move back to unrestricted flight operations by the end of 2026 once several component changes to improve safety are implemented, he said during a recent conference.
Notably, the metal used in the Osprey’s Proprotor Gearbox (PRGB) is being melted three times to bake out impurities, which industry experts think is “going to reduce the inclusions by about 90%, and which is why it’s becoming, I guess you would say, it’s becoming the new industry standard,” Col. Robert Hurst, PMA-275 V-22 Joint Program office program manager, said during the annual Modern Day Marine conference on April 30.
The inclusions are impurities that weaken the steel.
He said an unnamed “very good” industry partner three years ago determined they can melt the metal a third time to make it better, so they should include that in gearboxes currently being produced.
U.S. Air Force Accident Investigation Board Diagram of the U.S. Air Force Accident Investigation Board Diagram of Proprotor Gear Box V-22 Proprotor Gear Box
Hurst said the V-22 PRGB are currently being cut with the stronger steel and are set to start in January 2026 because the industry partner “really stepped up and helped us out with some of the long lead material, raw material differently.”
As a result Hurst said he believes DoD will make the V-22 “probably unrestricted by the end of next year.”
Despite Hurst’s confidence, this confirms further delays fixing the Osprey fleet. In June 2024, commander of Naval Air Systems Command Vice Adm. Carl Chebi told lawmakers the V-22 would not likely get back to unrestricted flight operations until the middle of 2025 as they looked at what material and non-material changes to make (Defense Daily, June 12, 2024).
The PRGB changes are meant to further decrease problems from hard clutch engagements that may lead to loss of control of the aircraft. Those engagements had occurred for years, but there was a jump in 2022, including one that led to a fatal MV-22 crash in June 2022. That crash led to a requirement that clutch replacements would occur after 800 flight hours.
More recently, a November 2023 CV-22 crash off the coast of Japan led to another fleet grounding.
The Marine Corps’ latest Aviation Plan from February noted new sensors are being installed on V-22s to better predict when parts need to be replaced to avoid potentially deadly incidents.
This includes the Osprey Drive System Safety and Health Instrumentation (ODSSHI) to install sensors in critical areas of the aircraft’s PRGB and drivetrain. The document also first noted the utility of the more refined triple-melt steel that will “drastically reduce the likelihood of material defects in critical gears and bearings” (Defense Daily, Feb. 7).
The V-22 program is also working on a redesigned Input Quill Assembly (IQA) that seeks to reduce a wearout mode found in previous IQA failures that led to hard clutch engagement (HCE) issues.
An MV-22B Osprey, from Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron 1, lifts off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS CarlVinson (CVN 70). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Sean Castellano)
Until the improved steel for the proprotor gearbox, redesigned IQA, and ODSSHI is fully installed, the V-22 continues to operate under flight restrictions. The Navy and Marine Corps are only allowed to fly them within 30 minutes of a divert field, which the Navy operators generally translate into 200 miles. The Ospreys are supposed to have a range of 1,150 miles.
Hurst said the program is moving on all of these improvement measures in parallel “so we want to, as soon as it’s ready, implement it in the fleet.”
Last year at the same Modern Day Marine program presentation, the previous V-22 Joint Program Office manager said they were studying future upgrades that would potentially allow the fuselage to last for several decades past the current service life of the early 2060s (Defense Daily, May 3, 2024).
