The U.S. military is under criticism for its accident-prone people-carrying aircraft as two U.S. Marines are still missing in the wake of last week’s tragic Osprey crash. It will not, however, abandon its helicopter-plane hybrid in spite of the accidents and fatalities the vehicle is experiencing.
A U.S. CV-22 Osprey carrying eight troops crashed last week off the coast of southern Japan while on a training mission near Yakushima Island. One passenger aboard the Osprey was promptly found by search teams, and they were able to confirm their death.
Five more remains from the accident were discovered on Monday by American and Japanese search and rescue personnel, along with “the main fuselage of the aircraft wreckage,” according to a statement from the US military.
“At present, two of the five crew members have been effectively retrieved by the responding teams,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the press during a press conference on Monday. “There is an ongoing combined effort to recover the remaining crew members from the wreckage.”
U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command said on Sunday that Sergeant Jacob Galliher, 24, was one of the crew members that had died. According to the military, he was a member of an intelligence unit stationed at Yokota Air Base in Japan.
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After the incident, the Pentagon declared, “We’re taking all appropriate measures.” “The unit of the CV-22 that had the accident is not conducting flight operations at this time,” Singh told reporters on Monday. He further stated: “All CV-22 Ospreys in Japan operate only after undergoing thorough maintenance and safety checks.”
Soon after the disaster last week, Japanese network NHK reported that Japan has formally asked that the United States stop its Osprey fleet, which is based there. Japan’s own Osprey fleet was likewise put on hold.
Bloomberg stated that the request was denied, although it did not include the request from its treaty partner. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara affirmed Reuters’ report that the U.S. military was still using Osprey aircraft. Kihara said that by 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Japan’s regional defense bureau had recorded 20 Osprey landings and takeoffs near U.S. bases.
Newsweek sent an email requesting response from the Pentagon.
However, among the hundreds of Ospreys in the U.S. military’s fleet, the crash off the coast of Japan was the most recent in a string of frequently fatal mishaps.
During a joint training exercise in northern Australia in August, an MV-22B Osprey crashed with 23 personnel on board, killing three U.S. Marines and triggering a safety assessment.
In June 2022, an MV-22B Osprey crashed during a training exercise in Glamis, California, killing five U.S. Marines. During a NATO training operation in Norway in March 2022, another MV-22B Marine Corps aircraft crashed in a remote area, killing four American servicemen.
An American Osprey crashed in December 2016 not far from Okinawa, an island in southern Japan. The U.S. grounded its Osprey fleet momentarily and five crew members were hurt.
With its tilt-rotor design, the Osprey can land and take off vertically, just like a helicopter. According to the U.S. military, there are many Osprey models intended for infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply missions for special operations personnel in addition to providing combat support for soldiers.
As “the first truly effective tiltrotor,” the Osprey is a “very complicated machine in which a lot of things can go wrong,” according to Hague Centre for Strategic Studies expert Frederik Mertens.
“A helicopter remains an aircraft that is kept aloft by sheer engine power against the grain of the laws of physics rather than gently cooperating with them,” he stated to Newsweek. “It can go horribly wrong if something goes wrong fast.”
“The fact that these same helicopters are typically used to transport personnel can make these accidents quite deadly indeed,” he stated.
The Osprey has “a long history of mechanical failures,” according to lawyer and former Marine Timothy Loranger.
But analysts predict that the United States won’t abandon the planes very soon. “With every crash, questions come up about why Ospreys are still flying,” Loranger stated. “The answer is simple: It’s a workhorse and is needed.”
“The Osprey is worth the complexity and the risks,” said Mertens. He further stated: “A tilt-rotor offers speed and range that no classic helicopter will be able to match.”
This is critical for U.S. special operations teams operating “deep in the enemy hinterland,” according to Mertens, and it’s especially appropriate for traveling long distances in the Pacific.
With almost 400 Ospreys at its disposal, the U.S. is unlikely to abandon the Osprey anytime soon, according to Loranger, who told Newsweek that the aircraft is essential for transporting soldiers and equipment into and out of hazardous areas.
At the beginning of the year, the Air Force Special Operations Command possessed 51 Ospreys, while the U.S. Marine Corps had over 270 Ospreys.
According to Loranger, there is no indication that the United States is searching for a substitute aircraft to replace the Osprey.
However, the U.S. military told Military.com earlier this year that it anticipated to continue operating Ospreys until the 2050s and had no plans to buy any more of the aircraft.
