Navy Chief Says Osprey Tests Resuming

All technical and management problems with the V-22 Osprey aircraft project have been corrected, and the hybrid helicopter-airplane is ready to resume flight testing, Navy Secretary Gordon England said Thursday.

“We’ve made dramatic progress in the last six or nine months,” England told reporters. “All of the problems with the program are fixed.”

The V-22, which was grounded in December 2000 after two catastrophic crashes, is often mentioned as being vulnerable to cancellation as the Pentagon looks for long-term savings. England, however, said the Marine Corps needs the V-22, and he expects it to prove its worth in flight tests.

“I’m very comfortable with the program going forward,” he said.

As the top civilian in the Department of the Navy, England oversees both Navy and Marine Corps programs.

Flight tests of the Osprey are scheduled to resume this month, although no date has been set.

The Osprey has the unique ability to take off like a helicopter, rotate its propellers 90 degrees and fly like an airplane. Each V-22 costs about $89.7 million, and the total cost of the program is $40 billion.

The Marine Corps hopes to use the Ospreys to replace its aging fleet of Vietnam-era helicopters, which are considerably slower and louder. The Marines were in the midst of testing the V-22 to prove it is suitable for the mission for which the aircraft was intended when the crashes happened.

Four Marines were killed in December 2000 when their Osprey crashed and burned in woods near Jacksonville, N.C., on the way back from a training flight. A crash in Arizona in April 2000 killed all 19 Marines aboard.

The new tests will focus on combat maneuverability, low-speed hovering and the ability to fly off ships. The tests also will focus on “vortex ring state,” a phenomenon that led to the aircraft’s descending too quickly. The Arizona crash was blamed on such a condition.

England said he has an open mind about the V-22’s future.

“If it does not demonstrate that it can do the mission for the Marine Corps, then we will stop the program. It’s that simple. If it demonstrates, then we should continue because it is a significant capability for the ... Marine Corps.”