“The war commander, Army Gen. Tommy Franks, attributed the problems to the harsh weather and equipment failures, such as broken radios and shot-up helicopters, rather than to human error.”

Tilt-Rotor 'Osprey' Helicopter Resumes Testing

Boy, there isn’t much I wish better than this plane. It just makes so much sense, looks like so much fun.

And, what do you want to bet it will never be deployed in combat conditions the way the helicopters it is designed to replace have been?

They cost $90 million each so far. The production models should cost less, but the redesign process will replace many parts with light-weight material, at much greater expense. The cost won’t come down too much.

It is extremely vulnerable to handheld surface-to-air missiles. The Stinger costs the US government $38,000 new, and other countries have less expensive models of similar missiles. They can be transported and launched by two people with minimal education and some training. Not much of either is necessary, as I understand it.

During the problems in Bosnia the US Army spent between $500 million and $1 billion to prepare facilities and transport attack helicopters to the area.

Didn’t use ‘em. Too vulnerable. Too many missiles around.

The Osprey will work well in rear areas, but those seem to have airports.

I think some folks have wanted to cancel the project, would hate to see it go, but also hate to see the forward people not have a useful craft. As I understand it, the USMC has all their vertical heavy-lift eggs in this basket.

Too bad. And, I might be wrong.

Arf