US Considering Sale of V-22 Osprey to Israel

source Strategy Page

28/2/2012 Israel Defense

US officials stated that Israel is among potential global clients to which it is considering to sell the aircraft

Senior US officials have been reported stating that the US administration is considering Israel as among potential foreign clients seeking to procure the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey aircraft.

The Osprey is designed and constructed by the US companies Boeing and Bell Helicopter. The aircraft flies like an airplane, but tilts its rotors in order to take-off and land just like a helicopter.  It is capable of cruise speeds of up to 290 miles an hour, nearly twice the rate of other army helicopters.

The aircraft has been on display during international events in the past months, including the Dubai and Singapore air shows. Israel is one of three countries, including Canada and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which reportedly expressed an interest in the aircraft in the past. Both Boeing and Bell had previously reported in December, after the Dubai Air Show, that the V-22 was the focus of a great deal of interest by potential clients, though the reports did not state their identity.

More than 160 Ospreys are in operational use among US forces, which utilized the aircraft during operations in multiple deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the aircraft has clocked a total of over 130,000 flight hours since 2007.

This is not the first time that the Osprey has been aimed towards foreign markets, as both Boeing and Bell have been trying to generate international interest in the aircraft for years. However, prospective clients were influenced both by a past desire to see how the aircraft operated in the field, and by its high procurement and operational costs.

The US  has been taking continuous efforts to reduce the cost of the Osprey’s production, with the hopes that sales of the Osprey to its global allies will assist in keeping its production line operational beyond 2018. The sale of the aircraft to foreign clients is part of the US efforts to avert the rise of weapon system costs, after the Pentagon cut orders in order to reduce more than $485 billion from its planned future defense budget.