Topic: Osprey Restrictions Lifted

Team Infidel

Providence Journal
February 27, 2007
By Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News
The Marine Corps has lifted flight restrictions imposed earlier this month on the Textron Inc.-Boeing Co. V-22 Osprey, according to a senior naval official.
The 54 aircraft were grounded Feb. 8 after a built-in diagnostic system detected during a routine ground test that a computer chip performed poorly in subzero temperatures.
“They are all flying,” William Balderson, deputy assistant secretary for naval air programs, said yesterday afternoon in the Pentagon.
The V-22 is a fixed-wing plane with rotors that tilt so it can take off and land like a helicopter. The military sees it as useful for long-range Marine Corps and commando missions.
The V-22 program, one of the Pentagon’s most controversial, was almost canceled in late 2000 after two crashes that killed 23 Marines. The program since has demonstrated major improvements that encouraged the Pentagon in 2005 to approve full production.
Balderson said the aircraft may be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan later this year.

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