Osprey Update

KWAME HOLMAN:

This morning, a Pentagon-commissioned panel held its concluding meeting on the fate of the V-22 Osprey– the Marine Corps' innovative but problem-plagued aircraft of the future. Two former generals, a former head of a major defense contractor and an aerodynamics expert, prepared to make public their judgment on the program by noting the Osprey's deadly failures in flight over the last 18 months.

SPOKESMAN:

Four crashes, 23 lives lost. That's a troubled program.

KWAME HOLMAN:

The panel was formed in the wake of the latest human and technical tragedy for the tilt-rotor aircraft, a crash last December in which four Marines died. The Osprey is the centerpiece of the Marines' plans for fighting future wars. In the works for two decades, the Osprey was to replace the Marine Corps' aging helicopter fleet. It takes off and lands in tight spaces like a helicopter, but flies fast like a traditional airplane allowing Marines to drop into and out of hostile situations in a hurry. Controversy over the plane has centered on its $40 billion price tag, but it has survived years of congressional budget battles. The latest crash however prompted grounding of all half- dozen Ospreys built to date by Bell-Boeing pending reviews inside and outside the pentagon. This morning, the panel and its staff discussed final recommendations in a public hearing. It concluded the Osprey can be fixed. But Norman Augustine, a former chairman of the country's largest defense contractor, Lockheed Martin, said it will take a lot of work to correct the Osprey's many flaws.

NORMAN AUGUSTINE:

It's certainly not reliable enough in its present configuration to be used operationally, in my opinion. It's certainly not maintainable in its present configuration adequately, or adequately maintainable for operational use. All of this raises safety questions as we've seen and talked about.

KWAME HOLMAN:

The panel's technical staff, however, said the Osprey's critical tilt rotor technology itself is fundamentally sound.

BRYAN O’CONNOR:

First of all, the mishaps. We looked at the five major tilt-rotor mishaps. Five– I have included the XV-15 prototype that crashed early in the history– and we found in the write-ups of all those mishaps, that tilt-rotor unique technology was not found to be a cause factor in any one of those.

KWAME HOLMAN:

Despite the commissioners' doubts, in the end they recommended the Marines should go ahead with the Osprey program.

NORMAN AUGUSTINE:

Where I would come out would be that the V-22 probably is the best answer available, and it's not ready today, though, for operational use, not close to it, in my opinion.

KWAME HOLMAN:

The commission also recommended that funding next year focus on solving the Osprey's technical problems rather than producing more planes.

NORMAN AUGUSTINE:

I think that things need to be done is to suspend operations to suspend carrying of passengers on board of aircraft to get back to the engineering and test mode and go out and test, test, test and in the meantime, I think it would be appropriate to cut the production back to the bare minimum – I mean bare — and the only reason I wouldn't stop production that it's so disruptive that that in itself probably introduces more safety and reliability problems.

GENERAL J.R. DAILEY (Ret.):

Having gone through the process and seen what is in place and what can be done, I have the same feelings as the has been expressed by the rest of the panel, that this airplane can do the job and can be made to work, but I'm actually impressed by the accomplishments that the people who are operating what they have achieved under the circumstances that they've been operating. We have given them about as difficult a task as they could get. That, therefore, that will be our recommendation to the Secretary of Defense that we proceed with a restructured program, with a phased approach return to flight and tactical introductions and specifically with the following recommendations as amplified about our discussions here today with the conclusions and recommendations and cautions we have identified.

KWAME HOLMAN:

The commission will deliver its full report to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld next week.