V-22 Osprey Tiltrotor Blade-Fold/Wing-Stow System Design and Testing

The Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey is a tiltrotor aircraft that operates like a helicopter when taking off, and as a turboprop airplane when in high-speed forward flight. It is currently under development by the tiltrotor team of Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., Fort Worth, TX, and Boeing Defense and Space Groups Helicopter Division, Philadelphia, PA. The V-22 is a multimission aircraft designed for use by all four U.S. armed services. Of all the service requirements, one of the most demanding comes from the Navy and Marine Corp requirement for shipboard compatibility. The V-22 aircraignificant challenge to the V-22 design team, is the requirement to fully stow the Osprey below deck on an LHA claft incorporates several unique design features to meet these shipboard requirements. One such feature, which has been a sss Navy carrier. The V-22 incorporates a blade-fold/wing-stow (BF/WS) system to meet this stowing requirement. In this paper, the control system and individual components that perform the BF/WS operations are described, as well as the functional requirements for the unique design features of the BF/WS system. In addition, the results of tests completed to date are given.