Marine Corps: MV-22 Osprey readiness rate is 48 percent

By Lee Hudson / November 9, 2017 at 10:42 AM

The Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey's basic aircraft readiness rate is an "unacceptable" 48 percent, according to a service official.

Lt. Gen. Steven Rudder, deputy commandant for aviation, in written testimony submitted to the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee, said the MV-22 Common Configuration Readiness and Modernization program is "critical" to restoring the aircraft's readiness rate.

"The MV-22s were deployed ahead of schedule in 2007 and have been in combat for over a decade," Rudder wrote. "This high demand signal required us to put them into operation as fast as they were coming off the line. That deployment rate along with a decade's worth of aircraft improvements yielded 75 different configurations of the MV-22."

CCRAM will restore the MV-22 fleet to 34 ready basic aircraft across the current inventory, he wrote. The initiative will begin by taking 129 legacy V-22 Ospreys in the Block B model and upgrading them to the Block C design.

The fiscal year 2018 defense policy bill agreed to by House and Senate authorizers approves a seven-year V-22 Osprey multiyear procurement contract with a caveat -- the aircraft must include common configuration improvements.

The V-22 multiyear contract will yield the Pentagon about 9.4 percent in cost savings, a House Armed Services Committee aide said in June. The proposed plan, which accounts for the additional aircraft, calls for six aircraft in FY-18, seven each the next two years, nine in FY-21, 11 in FY-22, 12 in FY-23 and 14 in FY-24.

191372