AETC Takes Ownership of CV-22 Osprey

US Air Force, KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE: It's now official. The CV-22 Osprey, which has been incrementally delivered here since March, is now an Air Education and Training Command asset. 
 
The owner has been Air Force Special Operations Command, but after the recently completed operational utility evaluation and final transfer and acceptance maintenance inspections, the four tilt-rotor aircraft here are now in the AETC inventory. The last Osprey made the transfer July 14. 
 
“It's like buying a car,” said Lt. Col. Jim Cardoso, commander of the 71st Special Operations Squadron, the 58th Special Operations Wing unit which will conduct future training on the aircraft. “You want to know if the blinker doesn't work and have it fixed before you buy it. It makes sure there are no surprises in what we're accepting from the losing command.” 
 
The long and sometimes serpentine path for a new aircraft to be accepted is more complicated than testing a light switch or kicking the tires.  
 

After the aircraft started arriving in the spring, the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center began the operational utility evaluation, or OUE, needed to find out the answer to the question: “Is the aircraft suitable for training?” To accomplish this, AFOTEC tasked AFSOC's 18th Flight Test Squadron in Florida to create a detachment to test the aircraft. The final sortie of the three-week OUE was June 29. 
 
Early in July, the final transfer inspection was conducted in conjunction with the aircraft's periodic maintenance in order to save time and hours. 
 
“It was AFSOC and AETC maintainers working together, one set doing the transfer inspection and the other doing the required acceptance inspection,” Colonel Cardoso said. “All four aircraft are now transferred to AETC. It was done piecemeal — whenever the aircraft came up for periodic inspection — but it was done quickly.” 
 
Although the two teams of inspectors worked closely during this phase, the acceptance portion was more intensive, said Chief Master Sgt. Michael Hall, NCO in charge of the 71st Aircraft Maintenance Unit. That's simply because the acquisition of an entirely new aircraft into the Air Force inventory means new problems must be resolved. 
 
“We had a few expected glitches, mostly with the database,” Chief Hall said. “It's a simple transfer of a database of maintenance scheduling when we're accepting an older aircraft, but the CV-22 is new and we found ourselves setting up a whole new database, which we had to make sure was accurate and up-to-date.” 
 
But Kirtland's Osprey community is not finished jumping through the inspection hoops yet. 
 
Next is the Initial Operational Test and Evaluation to begin in the fall of 2007, in which the Osprey will be run through the paces to make sure it's fit for operational employment. This month the entire squadron goes to Edwards AFB, Calif., for five weeks to help out with one phase of the developmental test. The CV-22 will be in the California desert to help in the Electronic Warfare Integration Assessment, which tests its electronic warfare system capabilities. 
 
“We're basically trying to help find out if the electronic warfare system does what the contractor says it will do,” the colonel said. “We're helping to find out if the CV-22 is operationally suitable to do the mission.” 
 
Eventually, Colonel Cardoso said, the inspections lead the aircraft to its final goal in January 2009 — the Initial Operation Capability. This will be the moment the warfighting command certifies the aircraft is fully mission capable. “Everything is geared toward that moment,” he said. 
 
After the return of the Osprey community from California in August, the CV-22 will be ready to begin its mission here — training flight crews. 
 
“After the EWIA we can solely concentrate on being a school,” Colonel Cardoso said. “In September we'll be like all the other squadrons in the 58th SOW. We'll be training, which is what we've been building up to since the squadron stood up in May 2005. It's exciting to finally be doing what we've been set up to do. 
 
“Six months ago, seeing a CV-22 over the Albuquerque skyline was a