Originally Posted by OFBSLF
USMC helo, how many V22 airframes are parked in hangars after having been damaged beyond repair, and without the required Class A mishap reports?
Unsubstantiated internet gossip and therefore to be treated with due caution/skepticism, but one of the commentators to the
DoD Buzz article on last month's abortive House Government Oversight and Reform Committee meeting stated this:
Anyone know about the Osprey “Hall of Shame” located at the Boeing facility in Pennsylvania were dozens of unrepairable V-22s are stashed. I’ve been told there are several damaged V-22s in a hangar at New River NC that were cannibalized for parts. I’ve been told there are several that were sent back to Amarillo for conversion to “Block Bs”, but their airframes had damage that couldn’t be repaired. Congress has funded 150 V-22s through FY2009, so around 140 have been delivered. The Corps claims only 84 are in service, and won’t account for the rest. Meanwhile, there are none in Iraq or Afghanistan. From what I understand, after two years of service they have so many problems with leaky hydraulic lines and cracks in wings or the floor that they are quietly retired.
The editor at
defense-aerospace.com had some interesting comments on yesterday's V-22 reports:
EDITOR’S NOTE: Defending the MV-22’s performance, Lt. Gen. George J. Trautman, the Marine Corps’ Deputy Commandant for Aviation, noted that “the three VMM squadrons that have deployed to Iraq have flown over 9800 hours while executing more than 6000 sorties, carrying over 45,000 passengers and lifting 2.2 million pounds of cargo.”
Yet, on average, these figures work out to a distinctly unimpressive 7.5 passengers and 366 lbs load per sortie, which doesn’t do much to bolster the Osprey’s operational credibility.
And, as noted by committee chairman Edolphus Towns, only 47 of the 105 Ospreys that the Marine Corps has bought since 1988 are considered “combat deployable,” and only 22 of these 47 were ready for combat on a given day.
Giovanni
also points out that, despite their age, Phrogs in Iraq have averaged MC rates of 85% or greater.
I/C