A House Oversight Committee panel that’s investigating the security and oversight of the V-22 Osprey aircraft following a string of fatal crashes has not received critical data or accident reports that its members requested months ago, two committee staffers told The Associated Press.
The aircraft, subject of a hearing Wednesday, has faced safety, maintenance and reliability issues for many years, with 62 service members and civilians killed in 12 Osprey accidents since 1992. Essentially the most recent was a crash off the coast of Japan in November that killed eight U.S. service members and led the military to ground the complete fleet. The aircraft, which may fly long distances fast like an airplane but land like a helicopter, began returning to service in March with flight restrictions.
Amongst the knowledge that the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs has requested but has yet to receive is the wear and tear and substitute rates on Osprey proprotor gearboxes, a component that was a think about the 2023 crash off Japan.
Committee members even have asked for internal crash reports that the military conducts with surviving air and ground crews and witnesses. The reports, often called safety investigation board reports, aren’t available to the general public and can’t be used to punish a crew — they’re in place to discover and quickly share any questions of safety among the many fleet.
To this point, the staffers said that they had received about 3,500 pages of documents, but information was redacted, leaving them unable to conduct oversight. The committee staffers spoke on the condition of anonymity to debate sensitive matters.
The staffers said the documents they’ve reviewed left them concerned about whether Pentagon leadership has maintained an in depth watch on the Osprey program. A few of the problems with the aircraft date back a decade or more but still haven’t been fixed.
After mechanical and material failures led to an Osprey crash in California in 2022 that killed five Marines, the military said it had instituted changes to stop the difficulty from happening again.
“Nevertheless, the recent fatal crash and ongoing investigations suggest that more transparency and rigorous testing is required to confirm these claims,” U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the committee, said in a press release to the AP ahead of the hearing Wednesday.
Testifying before lawmakers might be Vice Admiral Carl Chebi, head of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, which is accountable for the Osprey program across the military.
The committee is worried about how the Pentagon will give you the chance to sustain the Osprey program long run. Parts are wearing out faster than anticipated, but recent operations and maintenance budget requests by the Pentagon for the aircraft have been cut, Grothman said.
The Marine Corps is planning on using the Osprey through 2050, while Air Force Special Operations Command has already begun to speak publicly about finding one other variety of aircraft to conduct missions.
Osprey producers Bell Flight, the Boeing Co. and Rolls-Royce, which supplies the engines, are facing a brand new lawsuit from families of the five Marines killed within the 2022 California crash. The lawsuit alleges that the businesses didn’t address known parts failures or questions of safety that were a think about the crash.
Boeing and Bell have declined to comment, citing the continued litigation.
Essentially the most recent crash last yr in Japan was the fourth in two years which killed a complete of 20 service members. The Air Force quickly identified that a cloth problem with the aircraft was accountable for last yr’s crash, and inside per week, the complete Osprey fleet — a whole bunch of aircraft across the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force — were grounded.
The staffers said the Pentagon has not provided details on what the restrictions are because the aircraft returns to operations.
The V-22 Osprey is loved by pilots due to its speed and skill to land on track like a helicopter. Besides the deadly crashes, there have been additional accidents by which the aircraft were destroyed and repair members were injured, but all survived.
Tara Copp is a Pentagon correspondent for the Associated Press. She was previously Pentagon bureau chief for Sightline Media Group.