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Peculiar Warplane Enters Combat Under Clouds Of Doubt

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 16, 2007

U.S. Marines have just deployed the V-22 Osprey to Iraq despite serious questions about the vertical-landing aircraft's safety and utility.

Fighting troops deserve the very best support this nation can give them. They should not be asked to board an aircraft ridiculed on the cover of Time magazine as a 'flying shame' and widely regarded as dangerous.

The many criticisms swirling around the tilt-rotor craft demand a public response.

The Marine Corps officially supports the new troop carrier, which flies fast like an airplane and lands slow like a helicopter. Yet it is hard to see how this budget-draining craft will improve the national defense.

Three Ospreys have crashed in test flights, killing 30 people. And a congressional research report says it isn't worth the cost.

Its weakness lies in the engineering compromises necessary to give a helicopter the advantages of a fixed-wing airplane. The most unfortunate concession is the Osprey's inability to get safely back on the ground without power. An airplane with failed engines can glide down and a helicopter can float down with rotors spun by wind generated by its own fall.

If one of the Osprey's engines quit, its big rotors can be turned by the remaining engine. But if the shaft connecting the rotors is damaged, it will go down hard.

Another weakness is that the Osprey cannot shoot at enemies when trying to land. To save weight, it was stripped of its front-mounted gun. Supporters say it won't be used in high-risk landings, but given the chaotic nature of today's wars, there is little guarantee that landing zones will be friendly.

The drawbacks of the Osprey come as no surprise. During its long development, the project became a symbol of how politics compromises the integrity of weapons purchases. Lawmakers, heavily lobbied and interested in creating jobs, kept the Osprey alive over the reasonable objections of the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations. Even Vice President Dick Cheney couldn't kill the costly craft when he was secretary of defense.

Taxpayers will pay well over $100 million for each Osprey, about three times the cost of a military helicopter that can carry twice as many troops.

Taxpayers have to wonder which was more important in the Osprey's evolution: The 2,000 contractors in 40 states that help build it or the 24 Marines it will carry to battle.

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