Providence-based Textron Inc. and Boeing Co.’s joint V-22 Osprey program will need at least two years of flight testing before the Pentagon can conclude the aircraft is safe, effective and worth its cost, says the Pentagon’s top acquisition official.
The Marine Corps must reassess whether there are other planes that can perform the Osprey’s mission and cost less than $83 million per aircraft, Undersecretary for Acquisition Edward “Pete” Aldridge said in an interview.
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The Osprey is a hybrid craft that takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like a plane. Aldridge’s remarks are the best projection to date of how long it will be before full production of the craft might begin — a step that could lead to as much as $19 billion for the Textron-Boeing joint venture that splits revenue 50-50.
“The airplane is grounded.” Aldridge said. “It will not be ready for flight tests until April or May of next year. It is my view it needs two years of flight testing before we can answer the question of whether of not this is a reliable, safe, operationally suitable aircraft.”
The Osprey program has been plagued by software design flaws, poor reliability and doctored maintenance records. The craft has crashed four times since 1991, killing 30 Marines, including 23 last year.
Aldridge’s statements undercut speculation among Marines and defense analysts the Osprey might be used to transport U.S. special forces in anti-terrorism operations in Afghanistan.
The Osprey is scheduled to be the Marine Corps’ primary aircraft for ferrying troops into combat and for hostage rescue, embassy evacuations and peacekeeping missions. The U.S. Special Operations Command also wants to buy the Osprey to transport Army Rangers, Green Berets and Navy SEAL commandos on night attack missions. In all, the Pentagon wants to buy 458 Ospreys.
Still, it remains an “open question” whether — after 20 years of development, $12 billion spent and reams of studies — the V-22 is the right aircraft for the mission, Aldridge said.
“We’ve asked the Marine Corps to see if there are other alternatives,” Aldridge said. “If it costs more money than other alternatives, is that capability worth it? That question is still open in my mind,” he said. “They have to prove it –coupled with the reliability and safety and operational suitability.”
“We need to know it’s affordable and that it is an airplane that the Marines and war-fighters absolutely must have — that there is no other alternative that meets their requirements,” Aldridge said. “We have to go through all that.”
While the Marines have lobbied for the V-22, “we are not going to trade safety for expediency,” said Capt. Dave Nevers, a Marine Corps spokesman. “The return to operational flight will be a deliberate, methodical process.”
The Textron-Boeing team is under contract to build 30 Ospreys.
