V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, Lot 17 long-lead items: ~$7.34B — procurement from Bell Boeing (USAspending)
Per USAspending, procurement of long-lead items for production Lot 17 of the "V-22 Osprey" tiltrotor was awarded to the joint venture of Bell and Boeing (Bell Boeing). The value is about $7.34 billion ($7,337,457,222), a definitive contract running December 2011–September 2021. It supports series production of an unusual aircraft that takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter yet flies fast like a fixed-wing plane.
Contract key facts
- RecipientBoeing
- Contract value$7,337,457,222 (≈$7.34B)
- BranchDefense-wide
- Awarding agencyDepartment of Defense
- Awarding sub-agencyDefense Contract Management Agency
- Award typeDEFINITIVE CONTRACT
- Period of performance2011-12-29 〜 2021-09-30
- Contract ID (PIID)N0001912C2001
Contract scope (original)
PROCUREMENT OF V-22 LOT 17 LONG LEAD-TIME ITEMS
Key points
- Long-lead items for V-22 Osprey Lot 17 awarded to Bell Boeing. Cumulative ~$7.34B ($7,337,457,222).
- Definitive contract, performance December 29, 2011 – September 30, 2021.
- The V-22 is a tiltrotor combining helicopter and fixed-wing traits by tilting its rotors.
- "Long-lead items" — securing long-to-make components ahead of the main production contract.
- Manufactured by a joint venture of Bell (helicopters) and Boeing (aircraft).
- Outlays are reported net of corrections and reversals, and three of the 207 records held as of 2026-09-01 carry negative values.
1The V-22 Osprey mechanism
The V-22 Osprey is an aircraft of the unusual "tiltrotor" type, whose left and right engine-rotors can tilt from upward (helicopter attitude) to forward (fixed-wing attitude). It takes off and lands vertically where there is no runway, yet flies at speeds and ranges close to a fixed-wing aircraft — a dual-purpose design that made development difficult while giving it distinctive value.
Manufacture is handled by a joint venture pairing helicopter-maker Bell with aircraft-maker Boeing.
2Long-lead material for Lot 17
This contract covers "Lot 17 long lead-time items." Long-lead items are components that take a long time to make, secured ahead of the main production contract; it is the same concept seen in the Virginia-class submarine and E-2D procurements covered on this site. To keep the production line moving, material is secured before quantities are finalized — a practice common to the series production of complex equipment.
3What the public record covers
The description (USAspending) goes as far as "procurement of Lot 17 long-lead items" and does not detail specific airframe counts or fielding (this site does not fill in what the description omits). A cumulative ~$7.34B shows a contract sustaining, over several years, the series production of the Osprey — expensive because of its special configuration.
4Outlays recorded as a negative number
Outlays on this record stand at about minus $1.10 million. Money paid does not normally come out negative, yet such values appear in public data.
Outlays are reported as a net figure including corrections and reversals rather than as the sum actually paid to date. Cancel a prior-year entry and the value falls by that amount; where the original entry was small, it swings negative. That is one reason the outlay column in public data cannot be read as how far execution has progressed.
This contract covers long-lead material for Lot 17 — securing material ahead of settled quantities so the production line does not stop.
Why it matters
A contract that sustains, over several years, the series production of the Osprey — expensive due to its special tiltrotor configuration — via advance securing of long-lead items. Long-lead procurement is a practice common to the series production of complex equipment, a device to keep production lines moving. Together with the Bell Boeing joint-venture structure, it helps grasp the reality of rotorcraft and specialty-aircraft procurement. Useful to readers tracking the defense industry.
FAQ
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Sources (primary)
This article is an independent organization based on the U.S. official spending data below. Verify the exact, latest details with the official source.
- USAspending (award details)
- Contract ID (PIID)：N0001912C2001