Parece que el V-22 sigue sin alcanzar la operatividad deseada:
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/ ... s%20IssuesExtraigo:
“We're working on it, but that's one concern I have in the Osprey program,”Trautman told Aerospace DAILY April 30. Reliability and maintainability are “not meeting my full expectations yet.â€
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With 55,000 flight hours on the V-22, it has become evident that early predictions of mean time between failures on certain parts were inaccurate. “If [mean time between failures] is worse on the kinds of spares that have a long lead time, you start getting into a problem of how you dig out of that hole,”Trautman said.
Y otro problema no previsto: el calor de las toberas puede potencialmente combar los largueros situados debajo de las cubiertas de los buques anfibios sobre los que también tiene previsto operar, un contratiempo que también podría presentar la APU del F-35:
Sustained shipboard deployment of the V-22 also has posed a slight challenge to the service. It was discovered that on smaller deck amphibious ships, heat from the downward-pointing nacelles could potentially warp the stringers underneath the deck plates. “We're concerned with heat on the LPD and LSD decks because the steel is so thin,”Trautman said, adding that the service has “worked through that challenge.â€
One solution is to tilt the nacelles forward slightly, which gives 35 minutes of operational time on deck.
The other option is deck plates that provide protection up to 90 minutes. The Marine Corps is working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research to find coatings for the deck, particularly in light of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The exhaust from the JSF's auxiliary power unit has the potential to cause similar heating problems, so the joint program office is working on the issue now, Trautman said.