Congressional Research Service Releases Background and Issues for Congress

The Congressional Research Service recently posted a comprehensive report on the US military’s V-22 Osprey rotorcraft and, let’s just say, it doesn’t paint the fleet in a very flattering light. The tilt-rotor aircraft has been plagued with issues over its service life and has been directly involved in the deaths of 65 military personnel and civilians.

The Osprey was designed to combine the vertical lift of a helicopter with the range and speed of a fixed-wing aircraft, entering service in 2007 after two decades of delays, cost overruns, and congressional arguments. The report, “ V-22 Osprey Aircraft: Background and Issues for Congress”, provides a detailed rundown of the aircraft’s history, problems, and the nagging safety record that continues to follow it.

Safety remains the headline issue. Sixty-five people have been killed in Osprey accidents, 35 of them since the aircraft became operational. The last few years have been particularly rough: since 2022, four fatal crashes have claimed 20 lives and injured another 20 crew members. A majority of these incidents trace back to mechanical failures in the clutch, gearbox, and drive system. To reduce risks, the Pentagon has limited Ospreys to missions that keep them within 30 minutes of a safe landing zone… somewhat undermining the whole “long-range” part of the aircraft’s capabilities.

Congressional oversight of the Osprey program has been intense for decades, with GAO reports dating back to the 1990s that flagged safety issues and program mismanagement. More recent House Oversight Committee investigations in 2023 and 2024 have pressed the Pentagon and Bell-Boeing on whether these recurring failures should still come as a surprise. The new CRS report adds to these questions, asking if and how mishaps with the V-22 are impacting the Army’s development of its similar Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA).

The military is yet to give up on the Osprey. The Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force are moving forward with upgrades to the rotorcraft’s nacelles, clutches, and gearboxes, and adding new diagnostic tools and training reforms. Still, these fixes take time, and flight restrictions are expected to continue into 2026 while engineers try to get a handle on decades-old problems.

FMI: www.aviation.marines.mil