After more than 20 years of development and $27 billion in taxpayer money, a military plane that can take off and land like a helicopter may not meet the challenges of high-threat missions like Afghanistan, government auditors said Tuesday.
The medium-size, tilt-rotor Osprey _ jointly built by Boeing Co. and Textron Inc.'s Bell Helicopter _ already has been plagued by two deadly test crashes and a history of mechanical failures. Now, auditors say the aircraft's design limits its maneuverability, ability to operate in extreme temperatures, and overall performance in threatening environments.
The aircraft had difficulties operating from Navy ships and carrying the required number of troops and cargo during tests and training exercises, according to a Government Accountability Office review of the Osprey's operations in Iraq.
"It's incapable of performing the original way it was intended," Michael Sullivan, director of acquisition and sourcing management for the GAO, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The Marine Corps disputed the GAO's conclusions.
As of January, 12 Ospreys completed missions in a low-threat environment in Iraq, according to the GAO. Sullivan said the Osprey didn't perform all of its intended missions in Iraq largely because the military limited its use due to some deficiencies.
For example, the Osprey does not have a planned-for defense system that can suppress enemy attacks when it lands or takes off.
"Combat assault, the mission for which the V-22 was designed, remains unproven under realistic conditions," said Rex Rivolo, a former analyst for the Institute for Defense Analyses, a nonprofit that manages three federally-funded research and development centers. "Despite the rhetoric heard over the past five years about how V-22 is the ideally suited aircraft for combat operations in Afghanistan, the aircraft has not been deployed into that theater to date."
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. George Trautman, deputy commandment for aviation, disputed the GAO's assessment, saying the plane will operate just as effectively in Afghanistan as it has in Iraq.
A Bell Helicopter spokesman referred requests for comment to the Marine Corps. Boeing representatives could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
The Osprey replaces the CH-46 Sea Knight, a 39-year-old assault helicopter used in the Vietnam War. It can travel twice as fast and three times farther than the Sea Knight.
The planes, equipped with radar, lasers and a missile defense system, carry 24 combat-ready Marines and have accompanied attack helicopters in Iraq, which come under gunfire and mortar attacks.
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