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The United States has chosen to ground all V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft until the underlying causes of a recent crash, which took place off the coast of Japan on November 29, are fully understood. This isn't the first time issues have surfaced with the aircraft, an inventive blend of a plane and a helicopter. Despite ongoing development for over 30 years, the design continues to pose serious complications. The Pentagon announced the suspension of all operational activities involving the various Osprey variants following the tragic accident of a CV-22 off the Japanese coast on November 29. That crash resulted in...

The grounding of all Osprey tilt-rotors follows a fatal crash off the coast of a Japanese island that may be tied to a “materiel failure.”The U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps have all now grounded their respective V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor fleets. This follows a fatal crash involving an Air Force CV-22B off the coast of Japan's Yakushima Island on November 29. An investigation into the accident is still ongoing, but has found evidence already that a "materiel failure" may have been the root cause.The CV-22B, which was using the callsign Gundam 22 at the time, was conducting a routine...

A military aircraft carrying nuclear material has crashed in California, leaving officials to believe all five passengers are dead. The plane crashed in Imperial County near Highway 78 and the town of Glamis - 30 miles north of the Mexican border, and 150 miles east of San Diego. The crash was confirmed by Naval Air Facility El Centro, 30 miles from the crash site. Officials believe at least five people were aboard at the time of the crash. Investigators have presumed all passengers are dead, according to FOX 5 reporter Malik Earnest.

Four American soldiers were killed in a plane crash during a NATO exercise unrelated to the Ukraine war, Norway’s prime minister said Saturday. Jonas Gahr Støre tweeted that they were killed in the crash on Friday night. The cause was under investigation. “The soldiers participated in the NATO exercise Cold Response,” he said. “Our deepest sympathies go to the soldiers’ families, relatives and fellow soldiers in their unit.” The plane was a V-22B Osprey that belongs to the U.S. Marine Corps, Norway’s armed forces said. “The aircraft had a crew of four and was out on a training mission in...

After six years of design, development and testing in Amarillo, the Bell V-280 Valor is now in residence at the company’s flight research center in Arlington. The aircraft, designed primarily to carry troops into combat, is Bell’s entrant to replace the more than two thousand Blackhawk helicopters now in service with the U.S. Army. Bell, headquartered in Fort Worth, is competing against a Sikorsky/Boeing design in the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration. The two designs are radically different. The Valor is a tiltrotor, similar to the V-22 Osprey, which has been in service with the Marines for more than a decade....

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement Sunday that another service member was injured in a "hard landing" in a nearby location. An MV-22 Osprey aircraft used in the raid was unable to fly afterward and "was then intentionally destroyed in place." "Americans are saddened this morning with news that a life of a heroic service member has been taken in our fight against the evil of radical Islamic terrorism," President Trump said in a statement. "The sacrifices made by the men and women of our armed forces, and the families they leave behind, are the backbone of the...

A number of European countries have shown interest in the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, Navy Recognition has learned during the Surface Navy Association's (SNA) National Symposium held last week near Washington DC. Among them are the UK, France, Italy and Spain. Artist impression showing a US Navy V-22 in a COD mission. Image: Bell "We will brief a number of European countries on the V-22 in February. If international partners orders can be added to the US order as part of Multi Year 3, it could drive the V-22 price down" said John R. Parker, Senior Manager, Tiltrotor Global Sales...

<p>In what is a highly controversial move, the US Navy has announced that it will procure tilt-rotor V-22 Ospreys to replace its venerable C-2A Greyhound Carrier On-board Delivery (COD) aircraft. Here's why it's such a terribly bad idea.</p> <p>The C-2 Greyhound replacement saga has gone on for many years, but it has come to head in recent months with three main proposals being put forward as solutions. One would be to rebuild or build new C-2 Greyhounds based on the Navy's updated E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Airborne Early Waring and Control (AEW&C) aircraft. The Grumman E-2 is a developmental cousin of the C-2 dating back to the 1960s. The other two proposals included procuring tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey and a novel plan by Lockheed Martin to rebuild a portion of the defunct S-3B Viking fleet into COD aircraft, bringing the COD mission finally into the jet age. You can read an in depth report on all these options in this past Foxtrot Alpha feature.</p>

The Osprey has always lacked firepower in its forward hemisphere. Beyond its ramp-mounted gun, various concepts have been tested and fielded in an attempt to provide fire towards where the aircraft is headed, not just where it has been. This issue is compounded by the fact that the Osprey outruns traditional helicopter gunship escorts, but a solution may have finally arrived. Now, the Bell and Boeing consortium that manufacturers the Osprey is looking to overcome this handicap in a big way, through rocket and missiles pods mounted on the Osprey's cheeks. The results of which could change the way the...

(Harry Whitver) A few months ago, I was in Fort Worth, Texas, reporting on BAE Systems’ project to modernize South Korea’s F-16s. I’d known the project’s leader, John Bean, in an earlier job, and on one of his shelves was a memento of that era—a model of a desert-camouflaged airplane that was clearly an F-16 but with a longer body, no horizontal stabilizer, and big delta wings. I first met Bean in 1994, when Lockheed had just bought General Dynamics’ Fort Worth unit (which made the F-16) and was in the process of merging with Martin. His team was working...

In January 2014 a United States Marine Corps (USMC) V22 Osprey landed for the first time onboard the Dixmude, a French Navy Mistral class LHD. The success of this experiment confirmed the full interoperability of Mistral class amphibious vessels with the means implemented by American Expeditionary Strike Groups. The French LHD are indeed fully interoperable with LCAC landing crafts, with heavy helicopters (Sikorsky CH53 Sea Stallion) and now with the Bell-Boeing V22 Opsrey tilt rotor aircraft. A USMC V22 Osprey onboard the French Navy Dixmude LHD Picture: French Navy For about two hours several deck landings were conducted in order...

Israel is advancing with its plans to field the Bell Boeing V-22 tiltrotor transport, with its acquisition of a six-strong fleet to be worth more than $1 billion. New details of the planned purchase were disclosed by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) on 13 January, in a notification to Congress. The government of Israel's request includes six aircraft in a "V-22B Block C" configuration, with these to be optimised for search and rescue and special operations duties, the DSCA says. Also counting related aircraft equipment, support services and personnel training, "the estimated cost is $1.13 billion", it adds....

The US will fast-track delivery of six V-22 Osprey helicopter-plane aircraft to Israel, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Thursday in his address to the Anti-Defamation League's centennial conference in New York. NBC News reported that the Pentagon agreed to send Israel the next batch of Ospreys to come off the production line after Israel requested this week that the delivery of the aircraft be expedited amid threats from Iran and Syria. The next group of Ospreys had originally been slated for assignation to the US Marines, a Pentagon official told NBC. "Israel will get six V-22s out of...

Interesting plane to view at 500 ft over your head....

'NY Times' reports deal to address Iranian, other regional threats; Israel to be 1st foreign military to receive V-22 Osprey. The US Department of Defense is nearing the finalization of a $10 billion arms deal with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, The New York Times reported Thursday. The arms sale is aimed at bolstering defenses against possible future Iranian threats, the report said. According to the Times, Israel would be permitted to purchase from American contractors the KC-135 refueling tanker planes, "anti-radiation" missiles that target air-defense radars, new advanced radars for jets and the V-22 Osprey aircraft....

HONOLULU — The Marine Corps will base two squadrons of its latest transport aircraft, the Osprey, and one light attack helicopter squadron at Kaneohe Bay, the Department of the Navy said Wednesday. The MV-22 Osprey takes off like a helicopter and flies like an airplane. The Marine base will have 24 Osprey aircraft in total. The Marines won't use Ospreys to train at Kalaupapa on Molokai as earlier proposed, out of concern the aircraft could affect archaeological resources next to the airport, the Navy said in the document announcing the decision. The Navy made the decision after issuing an environmental...

Ospreys to stay grounded for now Pentagon chief bans test flights until Japan OKs aircraft's safety WASHINGTON — The United States will suspend all flight operations by MV-22 Ospreys in Japan until Tokyo confirms the tilt-rotor aircraft's safety, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said.

Landing a V-22 Osprey helicopter-style on the sprawling flight deck of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush was a snap, says Marine Corps test pilot Capt. Dan McKinney. With Lt. Col. David Weinstein, McKinney did it a dozen times on March 20 – six landings in daylight, six at night. After their first two touchdowns, sailors perched in the carrier's superstructure to watch the helicopter-airplane hybrid Osprey's first-ever carrier qualification landings, conducted off the coast of North Carolina, started giving the pilots "a lot of thumbs-up." Marine leaders hope the Osprey's "carrier quals," scheduled to continue in May...

Marine Corps’ NC air base undergoing big expansionPosted on: 10:05 am, March 5, 2012, by Ryan Sullivan MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, N.C. — The military’s big expansion in North Carolina continues as the Marine Corps builds a $140 million mega-hangar to hold four squadrons of a revolutionary aircraft. **SNIP** ...preparing to break ground on one of the Marine Corps’ largest single structures. The super hangar will house dozens of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

India sizes up V-22 Osprey By:Greg Waldron Singapore India has shown interest in the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey, although it has not stated a formal requirement for the tiltrotor aircraft. Boeing confirmed that it was "invited in-country to provide more information" on the V-22, but that it has not received "an official, written [request for information] from India". In addition, Indian officials visited the V-22 aircraft during the Dubai air show in November 2011, where they asked questions about the aircraft. The V-22 would be well suited to operations along India's vast Himalayan frontier, where high altitudes and long distances...