The Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office received two contract modifications to perform repair services for the U.S. Navy's V-22 Osprey aircraft.

The modifications are valued at $246 million and $165.7 million, and are part of a contract with options that can reach a total value of $545 million if all options are exercised. Work will be performed at two locations, including Fort Worth, Texas, and Ridley Park, Pa. The U.S. Department of Defense expects the work to be complete by December 2019.

The U.S. Navy provided $184.6 million at the time of the contract modification award. The Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support in Philadelphia, Pa. is listed as the contracting activity for both modifications.

The Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey is a multirole combat aircraft designed to combine rotary-wing and fixed-wing capabilities. The aircraft is able to perform helicopter-like vertical maneuvers when its rotors are placed in a vertical position, and operate as a turboprop airplane when the rotors are placed horizontally.

In the United States, the Osprey is procured in two main variants, including the MV-22 used by the U.S. Marine Corps and the CV-22 used by the U.S. Air Force.

13 killed in Indonesian military plane crash
Jakarta (AFP) Dec 18, 2016 - Thirteen people have died after an Indonesian military transport plane crashed in the east of the country on Sunday, officials said, marking yet another air accident for the armed forces.

The Hercules C-130 plane took off from Timika city in Papua province carrying 12 crew and one passenger, but came down in a remote mountainous region shortly before its scheduled landing, officials said.

"The operator on land saw the plane at 06:08 am local time but at 06:09 am the plane had lost contact," air force chief Agus Supriatna told AFP.

The plane was expected to land at 06:13 am local time.

Aboard the aircraft were three pilots, eight technicians, a navigator and a military officer, as well as food and cement, Supriatna said.

Weather around the area is known to be unpredictable, and the plane went in and out of clouds before the crash, he added.

Rescuers located the plane debris soon after. All 13 bodies have been recovered according to the air force. Supriatna said a team was heading to the site to investigate.

The fatal incident is the latest for Indonesia's accident-prone military.

In November an army helicopter accident killed three on Borneo, while another three died when a military chopper went into a home in Central Java in July.

Some 12 people were killed in March when another military helicopter went down in bad weather on Sulawesi in central Indonesia.

But the worst incident in recent times was in June 2015, when an air force Hercules C-130 plane crashed into a residential neighbourhood in the city of Medan, killing 142 people and causing widespread destruction.