There’s a new use for the V-22 Osprey. The military has it’s eye on the aircraft that was developed to carry troops and supplies as a refueling tanker. An aerial trial was recently conducted in the Texas Panhandle to demonstrate the V-22’s capability of refueling strike aircraft according to the Amarillo Globe-News.
In a two-day trial in August, a V-22 equipped with a prototype aerial refueling system safely deployed, held stable and retracted a refueling drogue as an F/A-18 Hornet flew just behind and to the side of the aircraft.
“We’re using our own research dollars to explore some of these new capabilities,” said Ken Karika, a Bell Helicopter business development specialist and former V-22 pilot. “The V-22 is mature, proven and ready. Now we’re entering a phase where we’re expanding its capabilities because the customers who work with it, they see all these new uses.”
The Osprey is assembled in Amarillo under a joint agreement between Bell and Boeing.