V-22 Testing Turns up Trouble

The V-22 Osprey, which may deploy to Iraq with Marines this year, suffered problems that hurt its mission effectiveness when the Air Force tested it for a month in the New Mexico desert, according to a new report from the Pentagon’s top weapons tester.

The problems are described in the latest annual report from the Defense Department’s operational testing directorate, led by Charles McQueary.

The V-22 is a helicopter-plane hybrid developed by Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing. During an “operational utility evaluation” conducted last summer in the desert at Kirtland Air Force Base, NM, the effectiveness of the Osprey for training missions and potential combat missions was “degraded by poor aircraft availability,” says the report, issued Jan. 18.

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