THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 27, 1995 TAG: 9503270057
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
The rotor system used by the controversial V-22 Osprey aircraft creates strong turbulence while hovering, potentially hindering basic military performance, Pentagon testers have determined.
A February report from Philip Coyle, the Defense Department's director of operational test and evaluation, cited ``serious concerns'' regarding the Osprey's effectiveness.
``Principal among these is whether humans can successfully perform necessary military tasks in the hostile rotor downwash environment beneath the V-22,'' the report said.
The report, which has not been officially released, was detailed in today's issue of Defense Week, a trade newsletter.
The aircraft, which takes off like a helicopter and flies like an airplane, is jointly developed by Boeing Helicopters in suburban Philadelphia and Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth, Texas.
Initially designed for the Marine Corps, the aircraft will also be used by the Air Force's special operations unit. The Pentagon is expected to order some 500 aircraft over the next several years.
Boeing spokesman Nick Kernstock said turbulence has been a concern with most medium- and heavy-lift helicopters, including the Marines' CH-46, which the Osprey is replacing.
``The data indicates that V-22 downwash is manageable by using appropriate operating procedures,'' Kernstock said. ``Every aircraft type has a significant, unique operating procedure that ground personnel use to operate safely in unique circumstances.''
He also said the results of the tests were known by the military since August, one month before a Pentagon review board approved the project and four months before Defense Secretary William Perry also gave it the green light.
Further tests are planned this summer. Kernstock said remedies are limited to changing operating procedures - not the aircraft's mechanical designs.
The Osprey's price tag and questions about the aircraft's performance have been at issue for years. Concerns were heightened in 1992 after seven men were killed in a test-flight crash in Virginia.
The Bush administration attempted to kill the project. In August, President Clinton's Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch said Navy and Marine officials should consider scrapping it.
But Deutch has since backed the aircraft, and Clinton's fiscal 1996 budget proposal includes $811 million to continue research and begin Osprey production. by CNB