Navy Cod Aircraft - The CMV-22B will replace the long-serving C-2A Greyhound in the COD role, an often discounted, non-sexy logistics mission that is vital to aircraft carriers and their air wings. Whereas the C-2 is a generations old fixed-wing turboprop (joining the fleet in the mid 1960s) the CMV-22B is a version of the high-profile V-22 Osprey, a vertical-takeoff-and-landing tiltrotor aircraft developed for aerial assault and special operations missions.
The trio of Ospreys from fleet logistics squadron VRM-30 that joined the Vinson achieved a mission capable rate of 75% according to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) which touted the CMV-22’s success on the deployment. V-22 Joint program manager, Marine Corps Colonel Brian Taylor, asserts that the overlapping deployment and IOC declaration demonstrate both speed-to-fleet and a high level of confidence in the new COD.
Navy Cod Aircraft
CMV-22s joined Carrier Air Wing 2 aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) last August for a Pacific deployment which wrapped up last month. Their presence coincided with the first Navy F-35C deployment, a necessary adjunct to operating the 5th generation strike fighters whose bulky F135 engine (the Navy calls it a “power module”) the CMV-22 alone can haul to and from the carrier.
Program Objective
The CMV-22B will be capable of transporting up to 6,000 pounds of cargo and/or personnel over a 1,150 nautical mile range. This expanded range is due to the addition of two new 60 gallon tanks installed in the wing for an additional 120 gallons of fuel and the forward sponson tanks were redesigned for additional capacity.
The Navy’s new carrier onboard delivery (COD) variant of the V-22 Osprey was given the green light for initial operational capability last December while on its maiden deployment on an aircraft carrier. But concerns remain about the tilt-rotor’s readiness and some of its communications equipment.
The V-22 nacelles house critical power components for the V-22’s vertical take-off and landing capabilities and transition to forward flight Bell explained in a press release. The company says it engineered more than 1,300 new V-22 part numbers to help improve reliability and maintainability of the nacelles (approximately 60 percent of maintenance man hours are spent in the nacelles).
Bell is applying these to CV-22s at its Amarillo Assembly Center as part of an $81 million contract awarded by NAVAIR in 2020. Lurking in the background of any conversation about the CMV-22B is the C-2 which will continue to operate with Navy squadrons until 2024. Its current average mission capable rate is difficult to determine.
Program Overview
A 2020 GAO study on aircraft mission readiness detailed challenges to keeping the aging (34 years average) C-2s mission capable but explained that “specific details on mission capable and not mission capable rates were omitted because the information was deemed by DOD to be sensitive ”
The CMV-22B variant has a beyond line-of-sight high frequency radio, a public address system for passengers, and an improved lighting system for cargo loading. The aircraft will also be capable of internally transporting the F-35C Lightning II engine power module.
Contrary to NAVAIR, the DOT&E assessment reportedly asserts that the CMV-22 did not meet a requirement for 75% operational availability or a metric to fly longer than 12.5 hours before an “operational mission failure”. Readiness or mission capable rates are obviously important.
Taken at face value, the 75% mission capable rate CMV-22s demonstrated on the Vinson is not exceptional for a brand new aircraft. Ironically, these readiness enhancing modifications are not thus far being applied to the CMV-22.
Taylor confirms that the Marine Corps is “interested” in the nacelle improvements but has yet to order them. The Navy has not decided on integrating the modifications into new-build CMV-22s. Sam LaGrone is the editor of USNI News.
He has covered legislation, acquisition and operations for the Sea Services since 2009 and spent time underway with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and the Canadian Navy. The assessment found that the Osprey’s ice-protection system was insufficient, accounting for 25% of operational mission failures resulting in mission aborts.
Icing is a problem for all aircraft but may be particularly acute for the CMV-22B which, thanks to its unpressurized cabin, cannot fly much above 10,000 feet with passengers (or practically with its aircrew) meaning it will likely have fly to through or around weather that it cannot easily fly above.
That fact alone could affect the Osprey's operations and operational range. The first flight of the aircraft was in December, reported USNI News at the time. The delivery comes ahead of an aggressive testing and fielding schedule for the new COD that is anticipated to deploy next year in parallel with the first deployed squadron of F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70).
Vinson is currently in a drydock availability undergoing upgrades to field the F-35Cs. A quick review of the respective CODs’ performance shows that may be overstating the case. NAVAIR notes that with 50% more internal fuel than the MV-22B, the CMV-22B can transport up to 6,000 pounds of cargo and personnel over a 1,150 nautical mile range.
NAVAIR’s specifications for the C-2A show it can carry 10,000 pounds of cargo and personnel over a 1,300 nautical mile range. However, neither Col. Taylor nor NAVAIR mentioned an assessment from the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E) which states that the CMV-22 has only partially met its reliability requirements.
The non-public assessment marked “Controlled Unclassified Information” was obtained by Bloomberg News. No Navy personnel were injured when a CMV-22B suffered a starboard engine fire while stationary on Carl Vinson's flight deck near the end of the deployment.
According to Col. Taylor, the aircraft was flying in a matter of days but he couldn't comment on whether the mishap was factored into the Osprey's readiness numbers. For the record, the CMV-22B Gross Weapon System Unit Cost is $104.9m per aircraft, nearly three times that of the old C-2 ($38.96m).
Fourteen CMV-22Bs have so far been delivered (12 to the Fleet and a pair to HX-21 at NAS Patuxent River) and two additional deliveries per month are scheduled for 2022, leading ultimately to acquisition of 48 total aircraft.
The fire likely happened within/around the CMV-22's engine nacelle, an area of the Osprey which maker Bell-Boeing is modifying. The mods are part of a larger V-22 Readiness Program (VRP) which consists of two major aircraft modification plans - a Common Configuration-Readiness and Modernization (CC-RAM) initiative and nacelle improvements.
The former is focused on older Ospreys. The latter also applies to Air Force CV-22s. The DOT&E assessment also noted that the CMV-22’s HF radio - crucial for long distance communications over water - demonstrated “a 12% success rate for long-range, two-way communications.”
Col. Taylor asserts that the HF radio reliability is “very good” and that the program office will work with the community including the VRM-30 to make it better for the next deployment. Questions to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV N98) regarding the smallest type of ship the large CMV-22 could operate from weren't addressed by publication time but the practical realities of the tilt-rotor suggest that it doesn't open the aperture to new platforms (or many ashore locations including hospitals) all that wide.
While its carrier landings and takeoffs are gentler affairs than with the C-2, the lack of cabin pressurization also has implications for the kind of medevac missions the CMV-22 can take on. The first aircraft carrier landing milestone follows several milestones in the past 12 months for the COD program, including the aircraft’s first flight at Bell’s Amarillo assembly center in January.
The first operational CMV-22B arrived at Naval Air Station North Island, June 22. “There is nothing more important than delivering capabilities to the fleet with speed,” James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said in a statement.
“I am proud how the program and industry team have leveraged non-traditional approaches such as using existing MV-22 testing data to shrink the time in the CMV-22 acquisition cycle.” The USAF inventory reached an average mission rate of about 70% in fiscal 2019. That included decades old aircraft like the F-15C which hit a rate of 70% in fiscal 2019, outpaced by the F-15D at 72.5% and F-15E at 71.3%.
“The CMV-22B will be capable of transporting up to 6,000 pounds of cargo and/or personnel over a 1,150 nautical mile range. This expanded range is due to the addition of two new 60-gallon tanks installed in the wing for an additional 120 gallons of fuel and the forward sponson tanks were redesigned for additional capacity,” read a statement from the Navy.
“The CMV-22B variant has a beyond-line-of-sight high-frequency radio, a public address system for passengers, and an improved lighting system for cargo loading.” “We’re going to shoot for achieving the readiness rates that our combatant commanders require,” Taylor affirms.
That will be different in different operational scenarios though the Colonel declined to go into specifics. Higher readiness numbers are possible but he says 75% was the goal the Program Office was shooting for. During a typical six-month peacetime aircraft carrier deployment, a two-aircraft C-2A detachment will accumulate approximately 1,000 flight hours, transport about 5,000 passengers and haul about one million pounds of cargo.
C-2A Greyhounds with upgraded communications, navigation, and instrumentation packages will provide cost-effective, carrier-onboard-delivery well into this century. The fleet of US Navy C-2As are currently being outfitted with the same NP2000 eight-blade propellers that are also being used on the E-2 Hawkeye fleet.
Responding to a question about relative mission capable rates and whether the CMV-22 would likely devolve to a rate similar to the Marines’ Osprey over time, Col. Taylor said that how one slices the readiness piece “is always challenging.”
The CMV community is developing new tactics, techniques and procedures to apply to the COD mission, a task it must increasingly do over broad Pacific distances with a shorter-ranged, lower-altitude aircraft than before. Whether it proves more reliable than its predecessor over the long haul remains to be seen.
Taylor adds that the CMV-22 “provides so much more because of its vertical takeoff and landing capability,” citing its freedom to operate from ships without catapult and arrester gear, including those of partner nations. “The ability to move cargo and people between ships at great distance opens the aperture on what we’re able to do.”
The C-2A Greyhound is the U.S. Navy’s carrier-onboard-delivery (COD) aircraft, providing critical logistics support. The C-2A can deliver a payload of up to 10,000 pounds. The cabin can readily accommodate cargo, passengers or both. It is also equipped to accept litter patients in medical evacuation missions.
Priority cargo such as jet engines can be transported from shore to ship in a matter of hours. The large aft cargo ramp and door, and a powered winch, allow straight-in rear cargo loading and downloading for fast turnaround.
The C-2A’s open-ramp flight capability allows airdrop of supplies and personnel from a carrier-launched aircraft. This, plus its folding wings and an onboard auxiliary power unit for engine starting and ground power self-sufficiency in remote areas, provides an operational versatility found in no other cargo aircraft.
“The deployment happened at the same time but it was not a requirement for IOC. I do think that those things happening together as closely as they did speak to the speed at which the Navy stood up the [CMV] community.
It was essentially 18 months from delivery of the first aircraft to [VRM-30] going on deployment which is exceedingly fast.” “The Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force have gotten a lot smarter on the V-22 as time has gone on and those lessons are being realized in the way the Navy is standing up this community.”
Sailors assigned to Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 30 direct a CMV-22B Osprey from the ... [+] “Titans” of VRM 30 on the flight deck of Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70 ).
This evolution marked the first time the Navy's CMV-22B Ospreys have landed on a carrier. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Aaron T. Smith) The V-22s that the military has most experience with (and the biggest logistics support for) are the Marines’ MV-22Bs.
The most recent published estimates I could find of mission capable rates for the MV-22B stand at 60%. VRM-30’s CMV-22s flew to and from the UK’s HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier during the Vinson deployment and likely to USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) operating nearby, no transits to other ships were mentioned.
The Osprey can operate from the Navy's large (LHA/LHD) amphibious assault ships but 2021 testing of V-22 operations from the hospital ship USNS Mercy demonstrates that Osprey-compatible ships require flight deck expansion and reinforcement to accommodate the size, weight and heat of the aircraft.
c 2 greyhound aircraft, greyhound airplane, cod plane
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