The V-22 Osprey has shown it can fire missiles in rockets forward, a capability that will allow the tilt-rotor aircraft to deploy faster without needing the protection of other armed aircraft, manufacturing partners Bell Boeing said Tuesday.

A V-22 during the tests to fire rockets forward. Photo: Bell Boeing
A V-22 during the tests to fire rockets forward. Photo: Bell Boeing

Bell Helicopter

, a division of Textron [TXT], and Boeing [BA] conducted the tests at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma, Ariz., last month, and said the demonstrations show the V-22 can be equipped with a variety of weapons to shoot forward.

“We’ve shown the V-22 can be armed with a variety of forward-facing munitions, and can hit their targets with a high degree of reliability,” Vince Tobin, vice president and program manager for the Bell Boeing V-22, said.

The V-22 was first deployed in 2007 and is designed to fly like a plane while landing and taking off like a helicopter. It is meant to fly at higher altitudes, faster and at greater ranges than helicopters to rapidly deploy troops and equipment.

“Integrating a forward firing capability to the Osprey will increase its mission set,” Tobin said.

Through the end of September, Bell Boeng has delivered 242 MV-22s to the Marine Corps and 44 CV-22s for Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), Bell Boeing said.

Bell Helicopter began design work on forward fire capability in mid-2013.