Pentagon: Ospry Not Ready For Use

[Warlady]

by EUN-KYUNG KIM
Associated Press Writer


ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) -- Production on the Marine Corps' troubled V-22 Osprey program received a yellow light from a Pentagon-appointed panel which advised that various mechanical and redesign work should be done before the aircraft can take off again.

Serious concerns about the aircraft's safety and design prompted the panel to recommend ''bare minimum'' production on the Osprey, which was found to be the best aircraft suited for Marine missions.

''It's not ready today, though, for operational use -- not close to it,'' panel member Norman Augustine said Wednesday after the second of two public hearings on the issue.

The panel will brief Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on the recommendations next Tuesday.

Marine Corps Commandant James L. Jones said he shared the concerns expressed by the panel and that the service would examine the recommendations carefully.

''Although there are many issues to be resolved, I am encouraged by the panel's recommendation to pursue further development and fielding of the V-22,'' Jones said in a statement. ''This is a capability our nation needs to meet the operational requirements of the 21st century.''

The Osprey has the unique ability
Source Article (http://www.newsday.com/ap/text/washington/ap211.htm)

[The_Sonarman]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>The Osprey has the unique ability to take off like a helicopter, rotate its propellers 90 degrees and fly like an airplane. The Marine Corps hopes to use the Ospreys to replace an aging fleet of helicopters.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yet another, more "tried and true" approach would be to "replace aging helicopters" with.... "new helicopters". Gasp! What a concept!

[Warlady]

We are talking about the gubmint right? You have to admit it was a cool idea. Too bad it doesn't work.

[The_Sonarman]

It might work, in time. However, it is advanced, intricate technology, and such new technology invariably has engineering and production problems to work out. We "know" how to build helos. We didn't learn how to build them overnight, or even in ten years. It took a bunch of work, and now, the vehicles are fairly well understood.

"For the meantime", the Marines have their venerable helos. There is a solution available, until the Osprey is either cancelled, or debugged. Even if the Osprey is cancelled.... it is NOT a huge problem. Marines are amphibious insertion troops. They don't have to fly hundreds of miles inland at 300+ knots to do this task.

"Fixing" the Osprey will not happen by rushing significantly new technology into production, just because some General (whoever) is afraid funding will be cut, unless the bird goes into immediate production. We are not in the midst of a hot war. We are at peace. There is time to work out the bugs of this bird, without the accompanying body count. You can cut corners in a war. You don't do it in peace.

[ThomasMore]

The military and Bell/Boeing have been pushing this technology WAY too fast. The idea is very similar to what you see in the Harrier, which has also had a horrible accident record.

Part of the problem is that the V-22 Osprey's rotors are neither fish nor fowl. They are not airplane propellers, optimized to thrust the aircraft forward, nor are they helicopter rotors, optimized to hold the aircraft up.

One major problem is something called a "vortex ring state". What happens is that the rotors in the "helicopter" mode push air down. In part because of the small diameter (relative to a helicopter) of the rotors, the rotors can get caught in their own downwash and lose almost all lift. If this happens close to the ground, 19 dead marines (which has already happened).

images/icons/frown.gif

[The_Sonarman]

The V-22 Osprey has also (just like Dracula) spawned "yet another" of itself.... that being the V-44, which is a Pentagon program. I guess "V-44" implies "twice as large a load" as the V-22..... but that's just a guess.

There are still the helos. Helos aren't sexy-new hardware, but they work. The Marines can continue to use them, as can the Army. If the Osprey projects never "bear fruit", the only thing lost is time and money... we still have the venerable workhorse, the helo.