We Have Liftoff: Tilt-Rotor Osprey, Aircraft Hybrid, Rises From Grave
The death of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft was greatly exaggerated. The airplane-helicopter has risen from its grave to become a showpiece for tomorrow’s military capabilities.
Sidelined for years because of two crashes and a $42-million price tag, the hybrid flying machine now stands at the center of the Defense Department’s modernization plans.
In April, the Navy issued the go-ahead to begin production, and Defense Secretary William Cohen last month recommended accelerating the order.
“Once you say it’s in production, it’s reality,” said Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), whose district includes a major contractor.
The latest plans call for buying 360 aircraft for the Marine Corps, 48 for the Navy and 50 for the Air Force’s special operations unit. The first ones will be delivered in 1999, with a full Marine squadron fielded by 2001.
Program developers say the Air Force also has inquired about buying additional aircraft for search and rescue needs, and there’s talk about eventually using a modified Osprey for presidential transport, replacing the Marine One helicopter now used for shorter trips.
A smaller, civilian version is in the works as well, with more than 20 companies having already placed deposits for some 30 aircraft, even though they won’t begin to roll of assembly lines for at least four more years.
“The future is bright,” said Frank Jensen Jr., president of Helicopter Assn. International, a trade group. “The use of these machines is only limited by the imagination of the people who use them.”
The 24-seat Osprey can take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane by tilting its twin wing-mounted rotors 90 degrees.
Developed jointly since 1983 by Boeing’s helicopters division near Philadelphia and Bell Helicopter Textron in Fort Worth, the aircraft was designed to replace the Marines’ antiquated CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter. The program keeps thousands employed in suburban Philadelphia and Fort Worth.
The Osprey can fly as far and as fast as the C-130 transport plane now used to fly military personnel and equipment to war zones. Once there, it can land in the battlefield like a CH-46.
Helicopters now headed to another part of the world must be taken apart, loaded on a transport plane and reassembled at the destination; they fly too slowly to get there on their own. Using the self-deploying Osprey could shorten a mission by hours or days.
Because of the Osprey’s speed, the military can launch offshore attacks with greater surprise and distance from enemies’ land-based missiles and underwater mines. Compared with the CH-46s, the Ospreys can bring Marines farther inland to secure a battleground.
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Meanwhile, Bell and Boeing are marketing the civilian tilt-rotor as high-speed ambulances for rural hospitals and transports for corporate executives wishing to avoid congested airports.
“It is going to be the aircraft of choice,” said Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), chairman of House National Security subcommittee on research and development.
A decade ago, no one was so sure.
In 1989, just as the program was entering the early stages of production, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney sent Congress budget requests void of V-22 funding. Congress continued to fund development, and Cheney refused to spend the money.
The Osprey’s future looked bleaker following two crashes in two years, the second killing three Marines and four civilians. In addition, the aircraft came in 3,500 pounds overweight and exceeded its $1.8-billion developmental budget.
Supporters toed the Marine Corps’ line: The Vietnam-era CH-46 is too old, too slow and in need of replacement. The Osprey crashes were dismissed as a tragic but unavoidable part of aircraft development and testing.
“Even those who think it’s too expensive still support it because of the needs and capabilities it provides to the forces,” said Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
The Marines were resolute on getting the V-22 to preserve their central mission of ferrying personnel from ship to shore. For supporters in Congress, the V-22 offered high-paying, high-tech jobs and the ability to keep the United States ahead of foreign aviation competitors.
A compromise was reached after three years. Bell and Boeing received $2.5 billion to address weight and performance concerns. Developers reduced the per-unit costs by 23% to $30 million and gave the Navy a working test model of the redesigned aircraft in March.
Critics, questioning whether the aircraft’s benefits justify its costs, say enthusiasm from Congress and the Marines ultimately made the program unstoppable.
“The V-22 represents a double political whammy,” said retired Navy Rear Adm. Eugene Carroll, deputy director of the Center for Defense Information. “The whole thing comes together having a life of its own regardless of affordability and necessity.”
