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October 02, 2005

I hope this is not to keep Weldon quiet

I'm probably just being paranoid, but this sure caught my attention. I hope the new Chairmain of the Joint Chiefs is a huge Osprey fan and this has nothing to do with the growing Able Danger controversy.

V-22 OSPREY CLEARED FOR FULL PRODUCTION

WASHINGTON, Sep 28 - Today, the Pentagon’s Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) approved in principle the full-rate production of the V-22 Osprey. This hurdle marks a significant milestone for the tiltrotor program that has had its share of challenges, and for the Boeing plant in Ridley, Pa. that is charged with the production of the Osprey.

Congressman Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services – and Chairman of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee that oversees the V-22 program – views the Pentagon’s decision as a special victory for the people in Delaware County, Pa.

“This is big news for Delaware County and the surrounding areas, which will directly benefit from this decision,” said Weldon. “The V-22 will dramatically transform the way we fight our wars in the future, and is in high demand from our military leadership. This decision frees up almost $20 billion in potential orders – translating into increased production and ultimately more jobs for the region,” Weldon said.

Weldon recalls a time when the Osprey was effectively side-lined by the Pentagon for safety concerns. “Vice President Cheney (then-Secretary of Defense) and the Democratic-controlled Congress killed this program, relegating it to minimal production status,” said Weldon.

“Today’s approval is monumental in that it is one of very few weapon systems to be brought back from near extinction, and we owe this achievement to the hard working folks at Boeing – corporate and union – who have made the necessary changes to make this tiltrotor technology available to our warfighter.” Weldon added, “This is total vindication from all of the critics who had taken cheap shots at the V-22 project over the years,” said Weldon.

Here is an interesting perspective on Why the V-22 Osprey is Unsafe.

The Wikipedia entry on the Osprey summarizes the issues pretty well:

The Osprey's development process has been long and controversial. The first flight occurred in March 1989. Since then however there have been four significant failures during testing - a crash in 1991, a second in 1992 that killed seven, a third in April 2000 that killed 19, and a fourth in December 2000 that killed four. This aircraft has been in development for 16 years since first flight and has still not finished testing or development. It is claimed that problems identified in all of these mishaps have been addressed by the V-22 program office and advocates of the program are optimistic that the aircraft is mature enough for fleet operations. Critics state that the aircraft will never be mature enough for reasons of pure physics — the V-22 cannot be fixed because of its flawed side-by-side rotor design.

The cause of the April 2000 crash was investigated, and was officially determined to be due to the rate of descent of over 2000 feet per minute (600 m/min) of the aircraft while at slow horizontal speeds of around 30 knots (56 km/h). Descending too fast at slow horizontal speed in helicopter mode can cause the airflow over the rotor blades to enter a vortex ring state (VRS). While this phenomenon is present in all rotary-wing aircraft, it was believed that the Osprey may be much more susceptible to it. The Osprey's flight operations rules already restricted the Osprey to an 800 feet per minute (240 m/min) descent at lower than 40 knots (74 km/h) airspeed; the crew of the mishap aircraft exceeded this operating restriction threefold. Another factor that may trigger VRS is helicopters operating in close proximity, a concern given the likely missions for the Osprey. The Marine evaluators have concluded that the restrictions imposed do not impede the mission of the craft in any way, despite the concern that an Osprey with a slower rate of descent is more vulnerable to enemy fire.

The Osprey recently completed its final operational evaluation (OPEVAL) prior to a full rate production decision. This OPEVAL was extremely successful; events included long range deployments, high altitude, desert and shipboard operations. Press reports on these final trials, notably included some where journalists were carried in the craft to demonstrate it, state that contrary to earlier reports on the matter, the Osprey is not only less susceptible to entering Vortex ring state, it is more easily recoverable from it.

On September 28, 2005, the Pentagon finally approved full-rate production for the Osprey. The current plan is to boost production from 11 a year to 48 a year by 2012. Planned production quantities include 360 for the Marine Corps, 48 for the Navy, 50 for the Air Force, 4 for the Texas Air National Guard and 6 for the Georgia Air National Guard.

Posted by Mike at October 2, 2005 02:18 AM

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