“Bell Boeing Joint Program Office [in] California, Maryland, is being awarded [a] $246.2 million… contract for repair of various parts on the V-22 aircraft,” the release said on Thursday.
Bell Boeing also received another $165.7 modification contract for repair of various parts on the V-22 aircraft, the Defense Department added in a separate announcement bringing the combined value of the two repair contracts on the aircraft in a single day to almost $412 million.
“If all options on the contract are exercised, the total value of this contract will be $545.2 million,” the Defense Department acknowledged.
Work on the first Osprey repair contract is expected to be completed by December 2018. If all options are exercised, work will continue through December 2019. On the second contract is expected to be completed by December 31, 2019, the announcement added.
The embattled V-22 has had at least seven hull-loss accidents resulting in at least 36 fatalities. Thirty fatalities occurred during testing between 1991 and 2000, and at least other fatalities occurred in combat after the craft became operational in 2007.
