Bell Boeing delivers Block C V-22 Osprey to U.S. Marine Corps

PATUXENT RIVER, Md., Feb. 16, 2012. The Bell Boeing V-22 Program, a strategic alliance between The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and Bell Helicopter - Textron [NYSE: TXT], announced that the U.S. Marine Corps has taken delivery of the first MV-22 Osprey produced with the new Block C suite of design upgrades. The V-22 Block C design upgrade includes a weather radar system that allows for navigation in poor weather conditions, and a redesigned Environmental Conditioning System. Expanded capacity built into the Electronic Warfare system -- including additional chaff/flare dispensers -- were also worked into the Block C design. The V-22 Osprey is a joint service, multirole combat aircraft that uses tiltrotor technology to combine the vertical performance of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft. With its nacelles and rotors in vertical position, it can take off, land and hover like a helicopter. Once airborne, its nacelles can be rotated to transition the aircraft to a turboprop airplane capable of high-speed, high-altitude flight.