House Oversight Committee – The Future Of The Osprey V-22 [June 23, 2009]

On 18 February 2011, Marine Commandant General Jim Amos indicated Marine MV-22s deployed to Afghanistan surpassed 100,000 flight hours and were noted as having become “the safest airplane, or close to the safest airplane” in the Marine Corps inventory (Source: Wikipedia). This is what proponents have argued in favor of the V-22 aircraft.

But statements that were voiced on June 23, of 2009 were not so positive. Here are some of those unfavorable statements. U.S. Congress members express the negatives of the program.

Chairman Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns: “Today’s hearing is on the V-22 Osprey, an aircraft that has been in development for about 25 years and has a very controversial past. GAO found that the V-22 has problems with parts, maintenance, reliability, and availability. And I understand the reliability issue is one in which the Department of Defense concurs.”

“And these problems have not come cheap. Since 1983, more than $27 billion has been appropriated for the V-22 program. The cost per aircraft has almost tripled since the Osprey’s inception to some $120 million each. And the cost of the programs may rise even higher given expected increases in operation and support costs.”

“In the course of our investigation, we asked the Defense Department for an inventory of all their Ospreys and how many of those were ready for combat. The answer was both surprising and appalling. Since 1988, the Marine Corps has bought 105 Ospreys; of this number, only 47 are considered combat deployable. Worse, we asked the Marine Corps how many of these are ready for combat on any given day. On the day the Marine Corps picked, June 3rd of this year, only 22 of these 47 Ospreys were ready for combat. In other words, fewer than half would be used for combat on a good day.”

Rep. John F. Tierney:  “What is equally concerning is that amongst this error-laden procurement process for the V-22, the program has been allowed to survive without proper scrutiny for such a long time because political decisions have trumped technical and budgetary realities.”

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings:  “And then you have to ask the question–the people who are in charge, our acquisitions people, the people who are responsible–is there incompetence? Are we stuck in a culture of mediocrity? Is there no empathy for our military?”

“I tell you, if I was sitting here as a judge, this is a, to me, this is a continuation of this defense of mediocrity, and it bothers me tremendously. We’ve got a spare parts problem. We’re cannibalizing planes that some say cost $64 million, others say more.”

A. Rex Rivolo, Ph.D:  “The inability of the V-22 to safely autorotate, now firmly established, has serious implications. The V-22 would fail to meet basic air worthiness directives of the FAA if it were a civilian transport.”

“The V-22 is susceptible in a combat environment to autorotation because of its design and because of its vulnerabilities. The conscious disregard of this substantial and unjustifiable risk qualifies as reckless behavior, in my opinion in the legal sense, on the part of these entities.”

“Proponents argue that V-22 has been combat proven, given its operational experience in Iraq. This, I believe, is either delusional or disingenuous.”

“Despite this, the U.S. Marine Corps leadership has shown little or no concern over this issue and has no problem requiring young men and women to ride as passengers in the V-22 under combat operations. I believe that this is reprehensible.”

Chairman Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns:  “To sum up, it can’t be used in hot weather, it can’t be used in cold weather, it can’t be used in sand, it can’t be used in high-altitude locations; and it has restricted maneuverability. The lists of what the Osprey cannot do is longer than the list that it can do.”

“Not only has the Osprey failed to live up to its initial billing, it has failed expensively as well. Our investigation indicates that we have gotten half the aircraft for three times the cost. That is not a recipe for longevity.”

From 1991 to the present, testing and operation of the V-22 has resulted in at least 30 fatalities.

Sources:
From the U.S. Government Printing Office – THE V-22 OSPREY: COSTS, CAPABILITIES AND CHALLENGES
YouTube – The Future of the V-22 Osprey