Yesterday the U.S. Marine Corps deployed the first 6 of 24 MV-22 Osprey's to Okinawa after being made flight ready at Iwakuni Marine air station in Yamaguchi prefecture.
Futenma Marine Corp air station is located in the middle of Ginowan a densely populated city in Okinawa. Laocated right next to the air station is a university where a helicopter crashed in 2004 and an elementary school. Residents of the city believe that given its location and the large population which surrounds the base its only a matter of time before there is an accident involving these aircraft which have proven to have a spotty safety record since they were widely deployed.
The reality is this: Residents of Okinawa can protest all they want but neither government be it in Tokyo or Washington will heed their demands. As, this isn't about them or their concerns about the air crafts safety worthiness its about America's next enemy China and the need to feed the military industrial complex.
Futenma Marine Corp air station is located in the middle of Ginowan a densely populated city in Okinawa. Laocated right next to the air station is a university where a helicopter crashed in 2004 and an elementary school. Residents of the city believe that given its location and the large population which surrounds the base its only a matter of time before there is an accident involving these aircraft which have proven to have a spotty safety record since they were widely deployed.
Their delayed arrival in Okinawa, which hosts more than half of the 47,000 US troops in Japan, came after Tokyo said it was satisfied by Washington's assurances over the aircraft's safety record.
The transport aircraft's tilt rotors allow it to take off and land like a helicopter and cruise like a plane. The US says the fleet at Futenma is needed to replace ageing CH-46 aircraft and improve its ability to respond to security crises in the Asia-Pacific region.
Controversy
The V-22's development process has been long and controversial, partly due to its large cost increases.[49] The V-22's development budget was first planned for $2.5 billion in 1986, then increased to a projected $30 billion in 1988.[31] As of 2008, $27 billion had been spent on the Osprey program and another $27.2 billion will be required to complete planned production numbers by the end of the program.[24]
Its [The V-22's] production costs are considerably greater than for helicopters with equivalent capability—specifically, about twice as great as for the CH-53E, which has a greater payload and an ability to carry heavy equipment the V-22 cannot... an Osprey unit would cost around $60 million to produce, and $35 million for the helicopter equivalent.—Michael E. O'Hanlon, 2002.[50]
The V-22 squadron's former commander at Marine Corps Air Station New River, Lieutenant Colonel Odin Lieberman, was relieved of duty in 2001 after allegations that he instructed his unit that they needed to falsify maintenance records to make the plane appear more reliable.[24][51] Three officers were later implicated in the falsification scandal.[49]
The aircraft is incapable of autorotation to make a safe landing in helicopter mode if both engines fail. A director of the Pentagon's testing office in 2005 said that if the Osprey loses power while flying like a helicopter below 1,600 feet (490 m), emergency landings "are not likely to be survivable". But Captain Justin "Moon" McKinney, a V-22 pilot, says there is an alternative, "We can turn it into a plane and glide it down, just like a C-130".[46] A complete loss of power would require the failure of both engines, as one engine can power both proprotors via interconnected drive shafts.[52]While vortex ring state (VRS) contributed to a deadly V-22 accident, the aircraft is less susceptible to the condition than conventional helicopters based on flight testing.[5] But a GAO report stated the V-22 to be "less forgiving than conventional helicopters" during this phenomenon.[53] In addition, several test flights to explore the V-22's VRS characteristics in greater detail were canceled.[54] The Marines now train new pilots in the recognition of and recovery from VRS and have instituted operational envelope limits and instrumentation to help pilots avoid VRS conditions.[31][55]
With the first combat deployment of the MV-22 in October 2007, Time Magazine ran an article condemning the aircraft as unsafe, overpriced, and completely inadequate.[46] The Marine Corps responded by arguing that much of the article's data were dated, obsolete, inaccurate, and reflected expectations that ran too high for any new field of aircraft.[56]
The V-22 has a maximum rotor downwash speed above 80 knots, more than the 64 knots lower limit of a hurricane.[57][58] However, it is possible to fast rope from the V-22.[59]
Changes to the Osprey and its software have addressed 3 problems: hydraulic fires in the nacelles, vortex ring state, and unarmed landings in hostile territory
The reality is this: Residents of Okinawa can protest all they want but neither government be it in Tokyo or Washington will heed their demands. As, this isn't about them or their concerns about the air crafts safety worthiness its about America's next enemy China and the need to feed the military industrial complex.
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