02/27/2005
V-22 cleared for flight testing
By WILLIAM BENDER , wbender@delcotimes.com

The V-22 Osprey is ready to proceed to an important round of flight tests that will determine its military capability and influence the Pentagon’s decision on whether to increase fuselage production at the Boeing Co. plant in Ridley Township.

Thomas Laux, the Navy’s program executive officer for air, anti-submarine warfare, assault and special mission programs, gave his approval last Thursday. Laux’s certification was required before the V-22 could enter operation evaluation (OPEVAL).

Unlike developmental testing, OPEVAL will push the V-22 further to determine how it can perform in simulated battlefield scenarios.

Flight tests will be conducted at the Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina, Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and the surrounding area, and aboard a ship that has not yet been determined, according to Ward Carroll, public affairs officer for the V-22 Program at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland.

Eight aircraft from the VMX-22 squadron will participate in OPEVAL, which will last four to five months. Before the tests begin, the commanding officer of that squadron, Marine Corps Col. Glenn Walters, must declare its readiness. Rear Adm. David M. Architzel, commander of the Navy’s operational test and evaluation force, will initiate the process and oversee testing.

Carroll said Saturday that the tests should begin by mid- to late-March, now that Laux has issued his certification. Architzel will report to the Pentagon upon the completion of OPEVAL.

Last month, Walters halted all V-22 flights due to the recurring presence of chrome flakes in the aircraft’s proprotor gearbox. Six such instances had occurred since April 2004.

Program engineers attributed that problem to faulty bearings, which were manufactured by the aerospace subsidiary of the Ohio-based Timken Co. and chromed by the Illinois-based Armoloy Corp.

Carroll said that problem "has been addressed and solved" and that it was isolated to the bearings, not the V-22 itself. "Nothing is wrong with the aircraft, we’ve already proved that," he said, adding that Walters’ squadron has since returned to flight.

OPEVAL is a crucial round of testing for the V-22, a controversial tilt-rotor aircraft that was grounded after a pair of fatal crashes in 2000 and returned to flight in May 2002. Proving its military suitability would go a long way toward silencing the program’s remaining detractors, who maintain that the V-22 is unreliable and too expensive.

About 1,500 jobs, or one-third of the total work force at Boeing’s Ridley plant, are tied into the construction of the V-22 fuselage. Full-rate production would quadruple Boeing’s current output of one fuselage per month, but the aircraft has to pass OPEVAL before the Pentagon will increase the production rate.

"The final step in this testing is a full-rate production decision," Carroll said.

That decision will eventually be made by the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics.

Last month, the Pentagon’s former top weapons tester, Thomas Christie, gave the V-22 a mixed review in an annual report he submitted to Congress and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Christie retired shortly after he issued the report.

The report said the V-22 was safe if operated within the current operating limitations and that the high rate of descent warning system "appears functional." But it also raised concerns over the aircraft’s communication system, environmental controls and the amount of dirt and debris it kicks up when landing in the desert.

A positive OPEVAL report could also help the V-22 hang onto its share of the defense budget as Pentagon officials look for ways to reduce the growth of procurement spending amid a record federal budget deficit and costly military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Absent any major spending cuts, the size of the V-22 program could reach $48 billion, with a total of 458 aircraft to be purchased by the Marine Corps, Air Force Special Operations and Navy.

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