Lawmaker Wants V-22 Production Halted
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Bettina H. Chavanne
After three deployments in Iraq, the V-22 Osprey is facing heat from lawmakers again for reliability, maintainability and operational limitations, with the chairman of a House committee calling for a halt to production.
House Committee on Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), issued a statement after a June 23 hearing on the tiltrotor aircraft, saying "It's time to put the Osprey out of its misery."
Marine Corps Deputy Commandant of Aviation Lt. Gen. George Trautman faced the committee to answer renewed questions about the Osprey in light of recent negative reports from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congressional Research Service (CRS) and the Center for Budgetary and Strategic Assessment (CSBA). Trautman did not contest the aircraft's dismal mission capable rates, which hovered at 62 percent in Iraq. However, fellow panelist Col. Karsten Heckl, commander of a tiltrotor squadron in Iraq, took issue with reports that the aircraft cannot perform in extreme conditions.
During the hearing, Towns cited the recent GAO report's findings that the V-22 "my not be operationally effective in combat" or extreme heat or cold. "I have strong reservations about the future of this aircraft," he said.
Arthur Rex Rivolo, a former V-22 analyst with the Institute for Defense Analysis, testified that the V-22 faces serious issues at high altitudes and temperatures. Heckl, whose unit deployed between March and October 2008, said what he was hearing "is disturbing, and some of it is blatantly inaccurate." He reported flying in dust storms and temperatures up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer.
Rivolo raised additional issues regarding the aircraft's lack of autorotation and combat maneuvering capabilities, which he said he has addressed in the past with government officials, to no avail.
The prevailing feeling among committee members seemed to point to a re-evaluation of the fleet mix to perhaps focus less on the V-22 Osprey, particularly in Afghanistan, due to its limitations. Trautman said he and the Marine Corps commandant perform an annual aviation review. "That's how we develop ideas that enable us to go forward," he said.
Photo credit: U.S. Navy
