US military Osprey flights paused again amid safety questions
By Natasha Bertrand and Haley Britzky, CNN
(CNN) — The US military is again pausing flights of it troubled V-22 Osprey fleet “to determine if any additional safety measures are necessary,” a Navy spokesperson said Monday.
“Today, Naval Air Forces directed an operational pause for all U.S. Navy CMV-22B Ospreys following a recommendation from Naval Air Systems Command,” Cmdr. Tim Hawkins said in a statement. “The operational pause allows us to determine if any additional safety measures are necessary.”
A Marine Corps spokesperson also said Monday that the Marine Corps implemented a 96-hour operational pause “for non-essential flight operations” of their MV-22 Osprey fleet, which started on December 6.
“This pause will give us time to determine if any additional measures are necessary to ensure the continued safety and effectiveness of this critical capability,” the spokesperson said. “The Marine Corps remains confident in the safety and effectiveness of the MV-22.”
The Air Force also implemented an operational pause for all CV-22 flight operations, according to Air Force Special Operations Command spokesman Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse.
The latest pause in operations follows an incident with a CV-22 Osprey in New Mexico last month during a local training mission, when the aircraft had to make a “precautionary landing,” which initial information indicated was because of a “materiel failure that has not been seen before,” Heyse said. The investigation into the incident is still ongoing.
Roughly a year ago, the military’s fleet of V-22 Osprey aircraft — variants of which are operated by the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force — was grounded following a deadly Air Force Special Operations crash off the coast of Japan. The CV-22 Osprey crash, which occurred in late November 2023, resulted in the deaths of all eight airmen on board.
The grounding guidance was lifted in March. In a series of briefings to reporters after the grounding was lifted, officials expressed confidence the Osprey would be safe to fly but provided few specifics as to what failed in the deadly November crash.
Col. Brian Taylor, the program manager of the Naval Air Systems Command V-22 joint program office, told reporters when the grounding was lifted that the crash was due to an “unprecedented” component failure, though he declined to say which component it was or how it failed.
The November 2023 crash was far from the first time an Osprey has gone down, killing the US service members on board.
In August 2023, three US Marines were killed in an MV-22 crash — the Marine Corps’ Osprey variant — during an exercise in Australia.
In March 2022, four US troops were killed in an MV-22 crash during a NATO training exercise. Five others died just a few months later, during another training mission crash in California.
The families of four of the Marines killed in the crash in California filed a lawsuit in May this year against Boeing, Bell Textron Inc. and Rolls Royce, alleging that the companies failed to address known problems with the aircraft that resulted in the crash. A Marine Corps investigation last year determined the crash was the result of a mechanical failure.
“Due to their defective products, breaches of contracts, breaches of warranties, wrongful actions and omissions, the defendants named herein caused the accident and the tragic deaths of Plaintiffs’ decedents, five fine young United States Marines,” the lawsuit said.
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