The Pentagon was aware of mechanical defects in the Osprey aircraft for about a decade before the crashes, Military.com reported Thursday.
The Air Force's Osprey program, a fleet of aircraft that use tilt-rotor propellers to take off vertically like a helicopter and fly horizontally like a plane, has been plagued by technical and safety problems for decades, sometimes resulting in deadly accidents. An Osprey plane, call sign Gundam 22, suffered mechanical failure during flight and crashed off the coast of Japan in November, killing all eight pilots and sparking an investigation whose findings were released this month. (Related article: 'They will try again': US rushes to thwart Islamic State resurgence in Syria)
but, Gundam 22 The Osprey was identified in a separate Air Force internal safety review in 2013, according to internal documents. Obtained Reported Military.com: Specifically, an investigation found a fault with the Osprey's gearbox, which led to the 2023 crash, causing the gearbox to break and disable the left propeller.
An Osprey takes off after dropping off the White House press corps at the Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Delaware, ahead of the arrival of the US President, March 22, 2024. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
According to Military.com, the Air Force reported its findings to the Department of Defense in 2014. But the Department of Defense never fully concluded that the risks outlined in the study were tolerable or manageable.
In a separate public investigation, release In August, he blamed the Department of Defense.
“Inadequate responses at the program level and inadequate coordination between program offices and the Services prevented comprehensive awareness,” the investigation found. These failures “were a significant contributing factor to the incident.”
The current Osprey program has become somewhat notorious for technical issues and safety concerns, even as the aircraft's architecture has evolved over time. Most of the aircraft's problems stem from the rotating propeller system, which involves a complex structure of gears and mechanisms.
Since 2007, there have been more than 40 accidents involving Osprey aircraft. According to More than 30 people have died in these accidents, 20 of them in the past two years, according to Axios.
Following the November Osprey crash, the Pentagon grounded all Ospreys the following month. The ban was lifted in March.
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