Posted on 02/22/2011 9:37:01 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
2/22/2011
IDEX: Bell Courting Middle Eastern Customers for V-22 Osprey
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Bell Helicopter has not had a booth here at the IDEX defense trade show in a decade.
The company, part of the Textron group, did not have military aircraft to sell before. But now it is back with one main product to offer: the $67-million-per-copy Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey.
The booth was not busy when National Defense dropped by on the second day of the show. The tilt-rotor aircraft has been approved for foreign military sales for about four years now, but so far there have not been any takers.
Representatives of the company are not discouraged.
Yes, it's a lot of money for one aircraft, said Chuck Gummow, V-22 business development manager at Bell. The message he delivers to potential customers is that they can save money in the long run.
He pulled out a PowerPoint chart showing what it costs to transport a company-size unit 250 nautical miles. The Osprey can move more miles and much faster than a typical medium lift rotary-wing aircraft. That translates into millions of dollars of savings per mission, he said.
A company using a conventional lift rotary-wing aircraft has to set up a forward arming and refueling point about halfway to the mission objective. That means moving supplies, setting up security and moving fuel there. Moving that logistics tail overland exposes troops to enemy fire. An Osprey, he said, can move 24 troops 250 nautical miles at speeds of 316 miles per hour when in the airplane mode.
"Expensive is a relative term," he said. Moving a company 250 miles would cost $524.1 million with a dozen rotary-wing aircraft, but costs $301.2 million with the Osprey.
"You do it at less cost, faster and without putting as many people in harm's way," Gummow said.
The V-22 was available for sale to foreign militaries during the 2007 IDEX show. The difference between now and then is that the Marine Corps has flown it more than 100,000 hours, which is a benchmark in terms of flight safety. The lack of accidents since it has been fielded is one of the first points Gummow makes in his sales pitch.
He admitted that the Osprey has to overcome perceptions that it is not safe. Between 1991 and 2000, Ospreys suffered four crashes, resulting in the loss of 30 lives.
Since then, it has been in nine Marine Corps deployments. Air Force Special Operations Command has used it throughout the world (although its specialized model has not been approved for export).
"You got to look at the capability you get for the cost of the aircraft," he said.
Bell is speaking to potential customers, but Gummow declined to name them.
Yes, times are tough, and military budgets throughout the world are stretched thin. But the price of oil keeps going up and up. Saudi Arabia's current budget was based on the guess that oil would be about $52 per barrel. But right now it is at $85, noted Dane Pranke, sales manager for Middle East and Africa at Bell. That is a big surplus, he said.
"Suddenly $67 million doesn't seem to be such a big hurdle," he added.
Keep watching National Defense Magazine’s blog for daily reports from the 2011 IDEX and NAVDEX exhibitions at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 21-24.
If that is real that’s insane ...
Buying the turkey is what is insane.
“If that is real that’s insane ... “
“They will sell us the rope with which we will hang them”
Prophetic words....
Oops sorry, Bill Clinton sold them to the Chinese Commies in return for election contributions some years ago.
An albatross with a catchy name.
That pilot better nose up or those blades are going to hit the ground!
Regarding that picture. Is it an optical illusion or is it incapable of landing as an airplane?
It looks like the props are too big unless the landing gear is long or it’s a perspective issue as I can’t imagine it not being able to land in that mode.
In an emergency, it can land in that configuration, and the rotors will disintegrate on impact.
The V-22 can perform a rolling landing or takeoff with the nacelles tilted at between a 15 and 45 degree angle.
Once.
:-)
Nice video. It looked like it leaped off the runway.
Yes, but it was empty. Load it up with 10,000 lbs and a full fuel load, and it won’t leap quite as much.
I find all the negative comments about an American made product, that can change the way people fly, to be most interesting for this site. Bell and Boeing work hard and so do the guys on the lines. So they had problems in the beginning, I am not sure there was ever a plane that had 0 defects from the first day on the flight line. /just a Bell fan’s rant.
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