There is no doubt that the military would like a gunship version of the V-22. The U.S. Air Force has probably been experimenting with such a thing for a while but just hasn't admitted it until now.
We knew that the June, 2012 "Eglin" accident was caused by low-level formation work. We now know that the Air Force has admitted that the CV-22s were practicing low-level formation gunnery at 80 knots and 350 feet agl. What the Air Force
admits is that they were using the ramp-mounted machine gun and firing...backward at targets?? Uhhh, ooooookay... (See the undated article linked below from the breakingdefense.com website.) What they admit to the public may or may not be the entire truth.
I suspect that since it was Eglin, and we know that all sorts of experimental "stuff" goes on at Eglin, they probably had some "other" gun configuration that they were testing but did not and do not want to admit. But it would be logical.
It'd be nice if they could come up with a gunship version of the V-22, and we fully understand the military's urgency to do so. I mean, let's face it - we very nearly lost those three ships that were sent on that rescue mission to Bor, South Sudan back in December. If there'd been just three teenagers with RPG's who actually knew how to use them, we might be telling a different story about that mission today.
AFSOC Crash Report Faults Understanding Of Osprey Rotor Wake « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary