Tue, Sep 20, 2005

Osprey Headed For Full Production?

Pentagon Says It's Ready

Five years after 23 Marines lost their lives in flight testing, the Pentagon is ready to authorize full production of the V-22 Tiltrotor Osprey.

"Yes, we do expect approval of full production," one military official who didn't want to be named told Reuters Monday.

In a letter to Congress dated September 8th, the head of Pentagon acquisitions, Kenneth Krieg, told members of Congress that the operational testing concluded in June showed the Osprey now meets requirements set forth four years ago. Until that critical milestone was reached, Congress had capped the number of V-22 in all its variations at just 11 a year.

The military's office of testing and evaluation is expected to issue a similar report later this week, according to Pentagon insiders. Once it does, production of the Osprey, built by Bell/Textron and Boeing, is expected to eventually rise to 48 a year.

Approval by the Defense Acquisition Board is expected September 27th. That means full-rate production, priced at approximately $50 billion a year, will start ramping up almost immediately.

Episode Date	Airborne-Monday	Airborne-Tuesday	Airborne-Wednesday	Airborne-Thursday	Airborne-Friday
Airborne On YouTube	Airborne-Unlimited-04.29.24	Airborne-NextGen-04.30.24	Airborne-Unlimited-05.01.24	Airborne-AffordableFlyers--05.02.24	Airborne-Unlimited-05.03.24

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-NextGen-04.30.24

Osprey Headed For Full Production?

Pentagon Says It's Ready

FMI: www.boeing.com/rotorcraft/military/v22/flash.html

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (05.02.24)

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.02.24): Touchdown Zone Lighting

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (05.02.24)

ANN FAQ: Contributing To Aero-TV

NTSB Final Report: Cirrus Design Corp SR20

Change Display

Advertisement

Top Videos

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement