Looks like the first squadron will be in MCAS Cherry Point NC by
2007..Oh boy. Would you gents take a ride in one? Is it really safe?
I know the USMC had them at sea on the USS Bataan in June for final
test. Do you guys think it is ready to go? Check it out!
Osprey clears last hurdle to operational use
By Otto Kreisher
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
3:44 p.m. September 28, 2005
WASHINGTON – More than two decades after the Marine Corps selected
it as a replacement for its Vietnam-vintage helicopters, the MV-22
Osprey on Wednesday cleared the final hurdle for high-quantity
production and eventual combat deployment.
The intervening years have been marred by major design and
manufacturing mistakes, extensive program delays, multiple
cancellation threats and three tragic accidents that killed 30
Marines and contractor personnel.
But after considerable systems changes and a comprehensive although
belated test program, the Defense Acquisition Board approved "full-
rate production" for the controversial tilt-rotor troop transport.
The clearance from the board led by the Pentagon's top acquisition
official, Assistant Defense Secretary Kenneth Krieg, followed the
earlier declaration by the Pentagon's top weapons tester that the
Osprey had proven itself operationally suitable and effective during
extensive trials this spring.
The Marines want to buy 360 MV-22s to carry troops and cargo, the
Air Force wants 50 of a modified version, the CV-22, for its Special
Operations Command, and the Navy might buy 48 to conduct search and
rescue missions and move people and supplies.
The Marines have fought to keep the Osprey program going through all
the difficult years because of its unique capability. It can take
off and land like a helicopter, but by tilting its rotors forward it
can fly like a turboprop airplane, nearly twice as fast and three
times as far as any helicopter.
The acquisition board's decision will permit the Pentagon in future
years to buy more Ospreys than the "minimum sustaining rate" of 11 a
year that the Bell-Boeing manufacturing team has produced since the
program was restarted in 2002. The annual production has been split
between nine for the Marines and two for the Air Force.
The Navy now expects to buy 14 for the Marines in 2007, increasing
to 38 in 2011. But that rate of increase already is much slower than
previously planned, mainly because of the higher cost of each
aircraft, currently $71 million, which is more than twice the price
predicted when the program started.
The Navy program manager and the manufacturers have promised to
bring the cost down to $58 million each once high-rate production
starts. Reaching that lower price could determine the long-range
fate of the Osprey, which still has a large cadre of opponents in
Congress and among defense critics.
The future production rate will determine how fast the Marines can
begin forming MV-22 squadrons and retiring the badly aged CH-46E and
CH-53D helicopters that the Osprey is intended to replace.
After completion of the demanding three-month operational evaluation
in June, the Marines began shifting aircraft and trained pilots and
crewmen to the Osprey training squadron at Marine Corps Air Station
Cherry Point, N.C. The Marines hope to have their first squadron
ready for deployment in 2007.
The first Osprey squadron at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station could
be in place by 2012, if the Marines can buy enough MV-22s
2007..Oh boy. Would you gents take a ride in one? Is it really safe?
I know the USMC had them at sea on the USS Bataan in June for final
test. Do you guys think it is ready to go? Check it out!
Osprey clears last hurdle to operational use
By Otto Kreisher
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
3:44 p.m. September 28, 2005
WASHINGTON – More than two decades after the Marine Corps selected
it as a replacement for its Vietnam-vintage helicopters, the MV-22
Osprey on Wednesday cleared the final hurdle for high-quantity
production and eventual combat deployment.
The intervening years have been marred by major design and
manufacturing mistakes, extensive program delays, multiple
cancellation threats and three tragic accidents that killed 30
Marines and contractor personnel.
But after considerable systems changes and a comprehensive although
belated test program, the Defense Acquisition Board approved "full-
rate production" for the controversial tilt-rotor troop transport.
The clearance from the board led by the Pentagon's top acquisition
official, Assistant Defense Secretary Kenneth Krieg, followed the
earlier declaration by the Pentagon's top weapons tester that the
Osprey had proven itself operationally suitable and effective during
extensive trials this spring.
The Marines want to buy 360 MV-22s to carry troops and cargo, the
Air Force wants 50 of a modified version, the CV-22, for its Special
Operations Command, and the Navy might buy 48 to conduct search and
rescue missions and move people and supplies.
The Marines have fought to keep the Osprey program going through all
the difficult years because of its unique capability. It can take
off and land like a helicopter, but by tilting its rotors forward it
can fly like a turboprop airplane, nearly twice as fast and three
times as far as any helicopter.
The acquisition board's decision will permit the Pentagon in future
years to buy more Ospreys than the "minimum sustaining rate" of 11 a
year that the Bell-Boeing manufacturing team has produced since the
program was restarted in 2002. The annual production has been split
between nine for the Marines and two for the Air Force.
The Navy now expects to buy 14 for the Marines in 2007, increasing
to 38 in 2011. But that rate of increase already is much slower than
previously planned, mainly because of the higher cost of each
aircraft, currently $71 million, which is more than twice the price
predicted when the program started.
The Navy program manager and the manufacturers have promised to
bring the cost down to $58 million each once high-rate production
starts. Reaching that lower price could determine the long-range
fate of the Osprey, which still has a large cadre of opponents in
Congress and among defense critics.
The future production rate will determine how fast the Marines can
begin forming MV-22 squadrons and retiring the badly aged CH-46E and
CH-53D helicopters that the Osprey is intended to replace.
After completion of the demanding three-month operational evaluation
in June, the Marines began shifting aircraft and trained pilots and
crewmen to the Osprey training squadron at Marine Corps Air Station
Cherry Point, N.C. The Marines hope to have their first squadron
ready for deployment in 2007.
The first Osprey squadron at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station could
be in place by 2012, if the Marines can buy enough MV-22s
