Osprey returns to skies with new restrictions after fatal accident in Japan

The services are prohibited from flying the controversial tilt-rotor aircraft more than 30 minutes from a suitable airfield to divert to in the event of a problem. This has caused some services, such as the Navy, to continue rely on other planes to accomplish tasks that the Osprey would have taken on.

Cmdr. Beth Teach, a spokeswoman for Naval Air Forces, confirmed to Military.com on Thursday that the restriction was imposed by the V-22 Joint Program Office, part of Naval Air Systems Command, and was a requirement that all services respected.

It was not immediately clear what the appropriate landing zone would be for the tilt-rotor plane, which by design is meant to land quickly like a helicopter in austere conditions.

The Joint Program Office declined to comment on this restriction to Military.com.

A Marine Corps spokesperson could not provide details on the restriction, but said efforts were underway to return the aircraft to full operation.

“The operational security associated with our forward-deployed Marines and Sailors limits our ability to provide details on possible platform restrictions,” said Capt. Pedro Caballero, a Marine Corps spokesman, to Military.com when asked if the restrictions applied to his environs. 350 Ospreys, the vast majority of the military fleet.

“The Marine Corps, after a thorough review of all available technical data and revisions to the flight manual in place, is currently implementing a deliberate plan to return all 17 MV-22 squadrons to full capability,” he said. Caballero said. “The Marine Corps’ three-phase approach begins by focusing on recovering basic flight skills, rebuilding unit instructor cadre, and mastering basic training and basic skills for pilots and the flight crew.”

Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse, a spokeswoman for Air Force Special Operations Command, told Military.com that the service is following Joint Program Office guidelines for its return-to-flying plans, but has not did not provide additional details on current flight restrictions.

This restriction was publicly identified in a House draft of the national defense authorization bill released this week. The bill details the limitations and problems of the Navy’s variant, CMV-22, and how it requires the maritime service to continue to rely more on its aging. Greyhound C-2A fleet, the lawmakers wrote.

“The committee understands that current CMV-22 operations are limited to flights and missions that remain within 30 minutes of a suitable diversion airfield,” according to the House Armed Services Committee document. “This prohibits the use of the CMV-22 for support aboard deployed aircraft carriers once they leave their homeport.”

The Navy used the Greyhound, which has been in service for 60 years and is scheduled to be retired by 2026, to fill gaps when the Ospreys were grounded, but even if the Osprey flies again, it appears the service still relies on planes.

That has raised concerns among lawmakers who have asked the Navy to provide the House Armed Services with a report by Feb. 1, 2025, on how the service will adjust once the C-2A is no longer available. available.

“In the absence of any other option available, the committee supports this interim solution but recognizes that it does not constitute a viable long-term solution beyond 2026,” the bill states.

News about the Navy restrictions and how they affected all Osprey variants was first reported by Aviation Week.

All services cautiously returned to duty after the Air Force attack on 29 November. special operations Osprey crash off Japanese coast kills all eight soldiers on board – deadliest CV-22 accident in the history of the service – and led to a month-long grounding of the aircraft on a military scale.

Military.com reported earlier this month that the Air Force had begun conducting flight checks for its Osprey variant, the CV-22. The Marine Corps and Navy began flying some of their aircraft in March, the same month the Joint Program Office gave approval to resume operations.

The Osprey Joint Program Office provided few details about the mechanical failure that led to the fatal crash and how it planned to fix it.

“We are confident that we understand what component failed and how it failed,” Marine Corps Col. Brian Taylor, V-22 program manager, told reporters in March. “I think what we’re still working on is the ‘why’.”

Meanwhile, the Osprey is planning a transformation that officials hope will keep the plane flying until at least 2055 — and beyond.

The Joint Program Office, which oversees development and operations of the V-22, is seeking to replace aging components in the plane’s cockpit, as well as test solutions for a mechanical problem that has led to more than a dozen of incidents during its operational life.

“There’s a ton of life left on this platform, and there’s a ton of mission left on this platform,” Taylor said last month at the Modern Day Marine Expo in Washington, DC.

The mechanical problem the program office hopes to resolve involves a notorious clutch issue, called a “hard clutch engagement,” which contributed to a crash in 2022 that killed five Marines. He is also known to have been involved in at least 15 other incidents involving V-22s since 2010.

Taylor said the program office oversaw the disassembly of clutches inside the aircraft, including V-22s with 2,000 flight hours and those with less than a hundred, which “made us helped to better understand that environment inside that clutch assembly,” he said.

He added that a new prototype for one of the likely culprits of this problem – the entrance nib assembly – will be tested over the next month. This prototype includes 15 design changes, he said.

“When you buy an airplane over a period of about 30 years, you run into some configuration challenges,” Taylor said. “And that’s what we’re still working on.”

Although operations are limited, Taylor said ospreys are abundant in the air – and have been for more than two months.

“I haven’t solved this math problem, but it’s safe to say that 24 hours a day, there is a V-22 flying somewhere on the planet… doing our country’s business.” , did he declare.