Following a catastrophic crash last week off the coast of Japan, the US military announced on Wednesday that it was halting V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
According to the Air Force Special Operations Command, the move was made to mitigate risk while the investigation continued into the November 29 crash that killed eight US airmen.
Later Wednesday, the Naval Air Systems Command announced that it will follow likewise.
Three tragic incidents have occurred in less than a year involving the hybrid V-22 Osprey aircraft, which can take off and land vertically like a helicopter and twist its propellers forward to fly like an airplane.
“The Air Force’s decision was taken to mitigate risk while the investigation continues into what caused the fatal accident off southwest Japan”, the Air Force statement reads.
It went on to say, “Preliminary investigation information indicates a potential material failure caused the mishap, but the underlying cause of the failure is unknown at this time”.
“The halting of the Ospreys will provide time and space for a thorough investigation to determine causal factors and recommendations to ensure the Air Force CV-22 fleet returns to flight operations”, the Air Force statement continued.
Following the catastrophe, Japan suspended flights of its own Ospreys and requested that the US military do the same on Japanese territory, as a precaution.
Several previous mishaps, including the one-off Yakushima Island, have raised concerns about the reliability of the tilt-rotor aircraft, a joint venture between Boeing and helicopter expert Bell.
Three US Marines were killed in an Osprey accident in northern Australia at the end of August, and four others died in Norway in 2022 when their CV-22 crashed during a NATO training flight.
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