The Osprey's Real Problem Isn't Safety—It's Money

Capt. Art "Papi" Guzman, gaze fixed forward, strides through the hangar at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. The stoic pilot is focused on the day's mission. His hard, square face probably wouldn't flinch if a tennis ball bounced off his forehead.

Guzman must haul 8600 pounds of high-octane aviation gasoline 100 miles north, over the peaks of the Chocolate Mountains. The trip will take 20 minutes. A half-hour after landing, the two Marines riding in the back will convert an empty patch of desert into a refueling station for Cobra attack helicopters that are conducting live-fire rocket practice.

This training mission is ideal for Guzman's ride. An MV-22 Osprey can carry 20,000 pounds of cargo (or 24 troops) internally. No other Marine heli copter can deliver this much fuel as quickly; the V-22 goes twice as fast as the tandem-rotor CH-46E Sea Knight and it can transport nearly three times the payload.

What makes the Osprey unique is its ability to tilt its rotors, producing more lift than thrust, which enables the airplane to hover and fly like a helicopter. Two Rolls-Royce AE 1107C-Liberty engines, each delivering 6150 shaft horsepower, are mounted within nacelles at the tip of each wing. Those nacelles can rotate 38-foot-diameter propellers between 0 and 96 degrees in as little as 12 seconds. "Anytime I'm in helo mode," Guzman says, "I want to go faster."

Two Ospreys have been charged with completing today's task; VMM-161, the Greyhawks, are training for an upcoming mission to Afghanistan and the squadron needs flight time. Under a leaden sky that promises more rain, Guzman's co-pilot and ground crews are prepping the Ospreys. Their rotors start to spin, the wash tracing intricate patterns on the rainwater pooled on the tarmac.

A Legacy of Fixes

The Osprey is not the same aircraft that was tested decades ago. Engineers have solved many of the problems that gave the aircraft its bad reputation.

HINKY HYDRAULICS

Problem: Titanium hydraulic lines leading to the nacelles used to rub against wire harnesses. This created holes in the lines that caused fires; in 2000 one such fire contributed to a crash that killed four Marines.

Update: By 2005, the problematic hydraulic lines had been rerouted. They are now easier to access for evaluation and repair.

DANGEROUS DESCENTS

Problem: Rotorcraft that descend too quickly at slow speeds can lose lift if the rotor dips too far into its own downwash. This is called vortex ring state?an Osprey in VRS can lose lift on one side and flip; 19 Marines died in one such accident during the aircraft's development.

Update: Ospreys have audio and visual warnings that alert pilots when VRS conditions start to form. Pilots can tilt the rotors forward to escape, if the aircraft has enough altitude to maneuver.

UNDERARMED FOR HOT LZS

Problem: Ospreys fly into landing zones that are defended by enemy fire (hot LZs). Critics once complained about the craft's lack of armaments.

Update: Some Ospreys now have 7.62-mm GAU miniguns mounted in their bellies; they are remotely operated by the crew inside the aircraft.

Costs and Benefits

No other modern military aircraft evokes the reaction generated by the Osprey. It's an engineering marvel and a target of abuse. Crusading bloggers and politicians denigrate it; pilots and military brass say it is revolutionizing the concept of air mobility. Regardless, the aircraft is here to stay. The Marine Corps and the Air Force Special Operations Command both use Ospreys, and both will receive more for years to come.

With its ability to shape-shift, the V-22 is a complicated aircraft. Miles of hydraulic and fuel lines run through the wings, and the fuselage must be tough enough to resist deformation despite the movement of the two 971-pound engines. Adding to the challenge, the propellers must fold so the V-22 can operate from ships.

A litany of problems?leaking hydraulics, onboard fires, and in certain conditions, aeronautic instability?plagued the aircraft during its 30-year development. This troubled program took a human toll?30 Marines were killed in three crashes during testing. Engineers have systematically addressed the plane's design flaws (see "A Legacy of Fixes," page 82), but the media piled on to what they saw as an obvious villain; the abuse reached a peak in 2007, when a Time magazine cover story labeled the Osprey "A Flying Shame."

The stigma still lingers. In the past year the New York Times editorial board has denounced the V-22 as "accident-prone" and "unsafe." An April MV-22 crash during a training exercise in Morocco that killed two Marines will likely feed into this reputation.

But since its 2007 deployment the Osprey has proved to be safe while flying in some of the most inhospitable conditions imaginable. There has been only one fatal crash in combat: In 2010 in Afghanistan an Air Force CV-22 touched down short of its landing zone, hit a ditch, and flipped, killing four of the 20 aboard. "Over 10 years, Ospreys have been the Corps' safest combat rotorcraft," says Richard Whittle, author of The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey.

The advantages that the Osprey brings to the battlefield have been displayed during deployment. Not only can V-22s carry larger payloads, but they can also cover more than four times the distance of the Sea Knight. For the Marines and special operators who rely on the Osprey's speed, those are crucial capabilities.

In 2010, a helicopter was wrecked during a raid in Afghanistan, stranding dozens of special operations soldiers who came under attack from small arms and mortar fire. When other helicopters were turned back by dust storms and the high peaks of the Hindu Kush, two CV-22s made the 800-mile rescue, soaring 15,000 feet and over the mountains. The mission returned 32 U.S. personnel in less than 4 hours. A year later, an F-15 pilot who had crashed in Libya was rescued by MV-22s flying from an amphibious assault ship. The Marines returned the pilot to the vessel, 150 miles away, in just 30 minutes.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Brian Luce, a pilot with the 8th Special Operations Squadron, flew the Osprey in Afghanistan and saw firsthand how it turned doubters into converts. "Some of the guys have a little hesitancy," he says. "But then they ride with us and get from point A to point B in record time." Luce says mission planners and combat commanders have also learned to appreciate the Osprey's capabilities. "The range and speed of a CV-22 are phenomenal," he says. "They are realizing this and are adjusting their tactics and procedures."

Those benefits come at a steep price. The V-22's research and development program was supposed to cost just over $39 billion, but independent estimates predict that it will come to $56 billion?43 percent higher. This price tag?about $100 million per plane, including development costs?becomes a bull's-eye each time politicians look for budget cuts. The 2010 bipartisan deficit commission proposed termination of the Osprey in its list of suggested savings.

The White House's proposed 2013 budget trims 24 aircraft (from 122 to 98) over five years, saving $1.75 billion. But those orders could be reinstated during negotiations of the Pentagon's contract with Osprey maker Bell-Boeing. The fact that the Osprey has escaped the budget ax's deepest cuts confirms its improved reputation within the military.

Despite its successes, the V-22 still has something to prove. Critics have found another source of ammunition to aim at the hybrid aircraft that everyone loves to hate.

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