Osprey or Albatross: Should the V-22 Tiltrotor Aircraft Fly or Die?
POLICY FORUMFriday, May 11, 2001
11:00 a.m.
Featuring Maj. Gen. Mike Ryan, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.); Lane Pierrot, Congressional Budget Office; Philip Coyle, Former Director, Office of Test and Evaluation, Department of Defense; Ivan Eland, Cato Institute.
The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
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Recent crashes and allegations of falsified maintenance records have thrown the future of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft into question. In addition, Vice President Dick Cheney, as secretary of defense during the first Bush administration, attempted to terminate the program. On the other hand, the Marine Corps argues that the aircraft-which is designed to transport marines and their equipment ashore during an amphibious assault-is vital to its future operations. Among other issues, our panelists will discuss the safety and reliability of the aircraft, as well as whether the aircraft is suitable to carry out Marine Corps fighting doctrine, whether the fighting doctrine itself is viable, whether the aircraft is affordable, and the viability of various proposed substitutes.