Osprey Has Powerful Doubter in Pentagon’s Weapon Buyer

The Pentagon’s chief weapon buyer said Thursday that he remained skeptical about the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which resumed flight testing in May after two crashes that killed 23 Marines, but he said a decision about its continuation was unlikely until next year.

“I’m probably the most skeptical person in the Department of Defense right now on the V-22,” built by Boeing Co. and Textron Inc., Defense Undersecretary Edward Aldridge said.

The Marine Corps is conducting two years of tests on software, hydraulics and other changes to the aircraft, which uses twin swivel rotors to take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane.

“I’ve got some real problems with the airplane, but the only way to prove or disprove my concerns is to put it through a very thorough flight test program,” Aldridge said.

The Pentagon is considering whether to scrap the $40-billion program. In the meantime, the Pentagon expected to receive a study next month of possible alternatives to the V-22, including the CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter.

The MV-22, the Marine Corps version of the V-22, was grounded in December 2000 after one crashed in North Carolina and killed four Marines.

In the same year, 19 troops died in an Arizona crash blamed on human error and other factors that caused critics to question whether the revolutionary aircraft was too unstable to handle during combat.

Aldridge said the aircraft could become uncontrollable if one of its twin rotors stalled as it hovered, and tests were being conducted to determine if pilots could learn to prevent such stalls.