Defense Tech: Osprey Cleared for Take-Off


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Edited by Christian Lowe \| Contact

Osprey Cleared for Take-Off

I was beyond skeptical when Wired announced that the crash-prone Osprey tilt-rotor craft was being cleared for take-off. After all, twenty years and $19 billion in the V-22's development, the craft was still having trouble handling sharp banks and U-turns last September.

But things seem to have changed. In July, Navy testers declared the Osprey "operationally suitable." Now, the sticklers at the Pentagon's Operational Test and Evaluation Directorate are getting ready to "endorse the findings of naval testers," according to Inside the Navy, "who found the Osprey to be... effective for military use and recommended introducing the aircraft to the fleet."

Which means the Marines may get their wish for a craft that combines the speed of an airplane with a helicopter's ability to takeoff without a runway.

After two fatal crashes in 2000, Congress decreed Osprey production would stay at a minimum sustaining rate -- which has since turned out to be 11 aircraft annually -- until the defense secretary certifies that successful operational testing proved the program had overcome previously identified problems involving hydraulics, flight control software, reliability and maintainability...

The Pentagon is set to decide whether to buy the aircraft in large quantities at a Defense Acquisition Board meeting Sept. 27.

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The osprey has been an extremely successful aircraft. My brother is a Major in the AF and he pilots the V22. I have ridden in them several times and it is an extremely state of the art aircraft. It can move troops 3 times as fast as a Blackhawk and can have the versitility to get troops in safely instead of using something just as fast like a C 130 but the soldiers dont have to jump out. they can get on the ground safely. I think Bell did an outstanding job filling the void between rotorcraft and aircraft. As an ex military pilot and a current commercial pilot I know how these aircraft work and I dont care about your stance on the governments money use, the V22 was worth every penny. You can sit around and cry about the way we use our nations money, but as a veteran the troops deserve the most state of the art equipment. If you dont stand in behind our troops, try standing in front of them.

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Posted by: 121 at November 6, 2007 03:41 AM

>>>
Because of this, tilt rotars will *NEVER* be used in the civilian sector (I know... it's ass backwards
<<<

The Bell/Agusta BA609 civilian tiltroter looks to be available in the relativley near future. (Unlike the V22, the 609 is a visually attractive ship, reminds one of a humming bird.)

http://www.bellhelicopter.textron.com/en/companyInfo/pressReleases/PR_Tiltrotor72205.cfm

Posted by: Brett Blatchley at October 23, 2005 07:36 PM

>>>
Usually these sorts of bad decisions are reserved for bailing out failed civilian aircraft (the Electra anyone?)
<<<

The Electra seems pretty successful to me: designed in the 60's they serve as sub hunters and Elint platforms today as the P3 Orion.

Posted by: Brett Blatchley at October 23, 2005 07:28 PM

If the V22 saves one Soldier or Marines life where no other aicraft could have done the job then 19 billion is cheap change. You have to keep pushing the envelope of what is known and stay in front or the bad guys will surprise you at an awfull cost. As the only remaining superpower the baton falls to you. I am sure that in time the V22 will carve its place like so many other ugly duckling aircraft. The story of aviation history is repleat with those.
Pete, a mate from down under

Posted by: Pete at October 3, 2005 06:41 AM

Aircraft development doesn't take 20 years? Care to see how long stealth technology was being developed before it ever saw commercial development? How about the flying wing concept? Work was done simultaneously in the US and Germany during WWII and has only recently become a practical reality. Slightly longer than 20 years if unless my math is all jacked up. The reason the oprey draws so much fire is becuase it has been developed out in the open for every armchair quarter back to judge. I wonder of the skunkworks guys could have put out some of the aircraft they did if they had to do it out in the open today. Scale the R&D cost for the Blackbird to today and see what sort of bill you come up with. But hey, if you hate it that much you have the constitutionally given right to vote with your wallet in the next election.

Anyone here remember what it was like trying to break the mach 1 barrier? Same thing different aircraft.

Posted by: Erik at September 29, 2005 10:49 PM

Repeat after me: Airplanes are Airplanes and Helicopters are Helicopters. Once more... and with feeling this time.

I think everyone can acknoledge that the Osprey has been one of the military industrial complex's larger cluster-fscks. I mean these things were catching on fire and falling out of the sky when I was in highschool (circa 1980s). +20 years is usually the lifespan of a transportation system, not amount of time that it take to develope it!!! Usually these sorts of bad decisions are reserved for bailing out failed civilian aircraft (the Electra anyone?) that can be fixed, but will fail in the market place due to early problems. The Osprey program is nothing but one continuous string of failures conceived to fill a military need. Because of this, tilt rotars will *NEVER* be used in the civilian sector (I know... it's ass backwards; usually the military is used as a engineering proving ground for later civilian technology, but this is one case where the military has doomed an entire technology.... thanks a lot guys).

If you ask me, they should have built on the demonstrater and worked up, rather than trying scale everything up and add a bunch of complexity all at once.

> The civilian applications for this aircraft
> will be incredible. Inter-city transport,
> downtown to downtown,

Either you're hopelessly optomistic, or a complete idiot. Either way, you seem to have a complete lack of understanding for airtransport economics.

Posted by: anonymous at September 18, 2005 11:31 PM

Yup, development has been expensive. I have been a fan of the Osprey for decades. I don't care if they have to spend more - just get it right! The civilian applications for this aircraft will be incredible. Inter-city transport, downtown to downtown, in a megalopolitan cluster, will be a quantum leap in civilian air transport. Over time the R&D costs will be recovered. Get it right, get it done.

Posted by: EWB at September 17, 2005 06:44 AM

Lets use it now in New Orleans/Gulf Coast.
Good Humane Test & for combat in Iraq & for Security on the US Mex Border as a C3I & Gunship vehicles & Troop carrier unit.
Good Field Testing for Osprey alone.
Long overdue.
Base em in NY,VA, NC TX CA FL HI OR CO.
BUT Use em now.

Posted by: stephen russell at September 15, 2005 09:41 PM

Tron;

The A3D was a medium bomber, not a transport. The "A" in the designation was NavAir-speak for "attack", the Navy's designation for bombers.

Posted by: steveH at September 15, 2005 06:16 PM

Tilt rotor's were designed in the 50's.

So where did the 19 billion go?

Please email me at highknowledge@hotmail.com with the breakdown of how this 19 billion was spent. I would love to see it.

Posted by: jtw at September 15, 2005 05:28 PM

However, is the vortex-ring-state corrected other than just "Don't descend as fast"? Does the osprey still have a worse safe sink rate than a blackhawk?

Posted by: Nicholas Weaver at September 15, 2005 02:45 PM

The V-22 is a very complex aircraft that is something the world has never seen before in a usuable production format. While the cost seems over the top, the eng. feets that where undertaken to get this craft off the ground are significant (Dispite JTWs objections to the contrary).

While it seems this aircraft is accedent prone while under testing and dev, I honestly feel that is to be expected on things this radical and the capability of this aircraft is something the marines, Navy and Army have needed for some time. The range, speed and lift load of this aircraft arn't matched anywhere by anything else.

If our military is going to stay a step ahead of the rest of the world we have to be willing to take risks and put money into projects like this one that will take us places no one else can or has gone.

Posted by: The Cenobyte at September 15, 2005 02:44 PM

There was a massive house cleaning after the 2000 problems. The new Project Manager reworked a large amount of basic engineering and documentation, had software reengineered and fixed, purge bad maintenance procedures. There was a lot of cover up of problems and throwing crap out the door just to make deadlines. The new PM started doing everything right to make the system a success. Almost all of the problems were fixed and the software that controls the aircrafted is now up to standard. This bird has finally gotten to where it should have been several years ago. This will be a very successful aircraft. There are places in the world were the Osprey is the best solution. It is not a 100% solution, but it is much better than it was even two years ago

Posted by: ajm at September 15, 2005 02:40 PM

My son is a retired marine. His career was working on helicopters. Thank God he does not have to work/fly in this expensive boondoggle. I truely wonder what would happen if the designers and the admirals/generals responsible for this deathtrap were made to ride in it and perform maneuvers ----- would it have made it this far?

Posted by: Patrick Ulrich at September 15, 2005 02:02 PM

19 billion dollars to develop a helicopter/propeller hybrid plane?

That amount of money can fund the entire State of Rhode Island for nearly 5 years.

That is a disgrace. They should be shot. Building an Osprey is no harder then building a regular airplane. 19 billion dollars to put tilt rotors on an airplane and to tweak its aerodynamics and motor output?

That is disgusting profiteering. What a waste of money.

Posted by: jtw at September 15, 2005 01:38 PM

What, they used to joke that the Navy transport plane, the A3-D stood for "All 3 Dead" (given the lack of viable escape routes for the guys in back) ... what are they going to call this thing?

Posted by: Tron at September 15, 2005 12:34 PM

Sarcastic Comments:

The Osprey: Proof that the Procurement Death Spiral has infected the Marines, instead of just being limited to the Army, Navy, and Air Force...

Posted by: Nicholas Weaver at September 15, 2005 11:53 AM

Osprey Cleared for Take-Off

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