Well lessee here Marine,
What say we start with the 1981 RFP and start the clock there and ignore the first thirty years between the V-3 and V-22 RFP....despite all three programs being directly related. By my Army math....that is Twenty Six years from RFP to first deployment in Combat (and that was described as being "premature" by the USMC!)
From the V-15 to Combat deployment of the V-22 was Thirty Years.
But in reality....this aircraft was under development for over Fifty -Six Years!
Let's start with the original prototype.....the Bell V-3.
Original concept... 1951
First Flew... 1955
Then there was the V-15......
First flew in 1977......
Along comes the V-22....
The Department of Defense began the Joint-service Vertical take-off/landing Experimental (JVX) aircraft program in 1981, first under U.S. Army leadership, then the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps later took the lead.
The Bell Boeing team submitted a proposal for a enlarged version of the Bell XV-15 prototype on 17 February 1983. This was the only proposal received.
The JVX aircraft was designated "V-22 Osprey" on 15 January 1985.
Full-scale development of the V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft began in 1986.
The first V-22 was rolled out in May 1988.
