David gets it right in pointing out that the V-22's speed will be an advantage in the mission that the Marines intend to fly in Iraq. Criticisms of the tilt-rotor's vulnerability overlook the fact that the V-22 is not going to be descending into a hot landing zone, Apocalypse Now-style, with guns blazing. The en-route threat is more important in Iraq, and higher speed is a blessing. The Marines have developed tactics that take advantage of speed, rapid acceleration and deceleration and low noise to achieve surprise. (On the other hand, those will be harder to implement in operations that involve other helicopters as well as V-22s.)
However, I expect that reliability will still be a challenge.
None of the four Ospreys lost to date (not counting at least one aircraft heavily damaged in a March 2006 mishap) was shot down: the accidents were a mix of aerodynamic and system problems and decisions by the crew, as they usually are. It's an unusual record; since the 1970s, it has not been unknown for military aircraft to complete flight testing without a single mishap. The Marines will argue that the accidents have been investigated, and corrective actions taken in the form of training, changes to flight manuals and modifications to the aircraft. Let's hope that they work.
Maintainability has been a problem area, particularly in the engine nacelles. That's not surprising. There are not many aircraft where critical, multiple-redundant flight controls are packed inside a moving nacelle, wrapped around the engine like a bundle of high-pressure knitting. Yes, helicopters have highly-stressed mechanical components, but their design rests on a whole lot of experience and a great deal of conservatism.
--Bill Sweetman
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