By Gidge Dady TEAM Public Affairs, V-22

The Naval Air Systems Command Vehicle Subsystems Team, AIR-435, has developed a unique V-22 cargo mockup facility which demonstrates a "thinking out of the box" effort that has far reaching benefits not only to the V-22 program but to others who need cargo mockup and test capabilities support.

The "cargo laboratory" is located at the South Engineering Building at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., where it provides customers with a facility that can be used to design, analyze, manufacture and assemble various kinds of loads, simulate cargo loads, perform cargo tie-down patterns/arrangements, and check the fit for vehicles and pallets.

The facility is a dimensional replica of the cargo bay of a MV-22 production aircraft so any kind of load that could be internally carried by the V-22 can be evaluated for fit and placement in the cargo/ troop compartment.

"This is the only facility of its kind that has this type of detailed fidelity for V-22 cargo simulation. We have replicated the floor plan, the floor tie-downs, as well as the ceiling, height, width, and length clearances and any space requirements for seats with respect to positioning cargo. We even have a winch, located in the same dimensional area as on the actual aircraft, to accommodate load on/load off cargo," said FrankYellnick, branch head for the NAVAIR vehicle subsystems branch.

The facility was built last fall by technicians and engineers of the vehicle subsystems division and was installed in February of this year.

"Nick Runowich came up with the concept, scrounged the parts, got the funding, helped in the mockup design and made it happen," said Major Mike Manzer, V-22 deputy class desk. "It was a superb effort on his part and will be invaluable for future design and evaluation efforts."

The lab consists of parts from one of the Full Scale Development aircraft, but the flooring and roller rail/guide system used to load and unload cargo replicates the configuration of all the production aircraft starting with MV-22 number 19 and all CV-22s.

"We are experimenting with a prototype guide system that would be a hands-off method of guiding these vehicles into the cabin in a straight and lined up fashion without actually having to steer them into place. It would be very similar to the way a car moves along the guiding rail in an automatic car wash," said Nick Runowich, lead cargo engineer in AIR-435.

Runowich added that they plan on using this as a test bed for developing tactical and transportable vehicles, such as ones that will be carried by the V-22, and prototyping of future development of wheeled vehicles.

The mockup also will be used for internal transportability assessments. In early August, several pre-production models of high gross weight vehicles were evaluated for a dimensional fit in the V-22.

"We will do a transportability assessment for these vehicles which includes looking at where people sit in the cabin once the vehicle is in there, egress points, ease of loading the vehicle, tie-down arrangements, and where the exhaust pipe exits relative to the crew chief," Runowich said.

Other items tested and evaluated for fit are those that would be placed on a pallet such as air drop loads or cargo containers with parachutes on top, such those used by the special operations forces that require air delivery. This facility also can test and evaluate the fit of organic support equipment such as a hydraulic ground cart, trailers for these vehicles, or any kind of equipment used by a self supporting unit.

Ideas for development of items can be tested in this facility as well. The Schlomer Frame is an example of a device that was evaluated and then used in MV-22 to facilate fast roping efforts from the aft cargo bay area during one of its operational test and evaluation phases.

Use of this mockup facility eliminates the need to use an aircraft to perform these tests. It also saves time by allowing engineers immediate access to a lab to conduct and evaluate various kinds of cargo tests rather than waiting for an aircraft to become available. The mockup facility has an added benefit so that if damage to the mockup occurs during testing, a valuable fleet aircraft will not be down for repairs.

"We see this as a warfighter asset. It has really paid off in terms of dollars and time we have saved by doing these tests in this building and out of the weather, and not having to bog down a MV-22 that was needed to conduct flight tests," Yelnick said.

This permanent multi-purpose facility will service not only the V-22 community and their customers but third party customers who may need testing of equipment that would be associated with vehicles or equipment that the V-22 would carry. Yelnick said this facility has been so beneficial to the customers and users associated with the V-22 community that they are considering building similar mockups for other platforms such as the H-53 or CH-60.

"We would be able to do this by getting used test articles that are no longer flight worthy and turning them into cargo mock up labs."