Tue, Jun 21, 2005
Marines Get What They Want
One of the hallmarks of being a good Marine is that you never
give up. It's a winning philosophy -- perseverance -- and it
appears to have won for the Corps the aircraft it's wanted for some
20 years: The V-22 Osprey.
"The Marines are as good at fighting budget wars as they are
fighting real wars," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst
with the Teal Group. "They seem to always get what they want."
Aboulafia was quoted by the Dallas Morning News.
Indeed, with operational tests about to conclude, the results
would seem to be a foregone conclusion.
"We're looking forward to the results when they officially come
out," Marine Col. Bill Taylor, the deputy program manager for the
U.S. Navy-led V-22 program, told the Morning News from the Paris
Air Show.
But the Marines aren't the only ones who've persevered during
the long saga of the Osprey. So have Boeing and Bell workers who
brought the revolutionary aircraft from the realm of imagination,
through a series of deadly mishaps, to fruition.
"We had the determination and perseverance to bring a new
technology into production," said Mike Redenbaugh, CEO of Fort
Worth-based Bell Helicopter.
"It has such an advantage on survivability and speed. It has
made a critical political breakthrough," agreed Loren Thompson, a
defense analyst with the Lexington Institute who also spoke with
the Morning News. "All the senior management in the Pentagon now
agree it's revolutionary. At this point, the V-22 is so secure that
if it had a training mishap, it wouldn't even derail the
program."
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