This has been a long time in getting the bugs worked out. I know the Marines and Special Ops will have these, but what about the Army?
The aircraft seems a good fit for Army aviation, but the Air Farce put them out of the fixed-wing business back in the 1970s with approval of DOD sad to say.
I attended a presentation by a well respected and retired Air Force Jolly Green rescue helicopter pilot last week. He stated that he would not recommend flying the Osprey on a unit level until the major bugs are worked out.
The Army will wait until the Marines have proven it's worth.
Army dropped out of the program a long time ago because they couldn't afford the huge number of aircraft they would need. Ospreys these days are costing about $65 million each. The Air Force is buying about 50 of them for AFSOC; those CV-22s are equipped with TF/TA radar and more aircraft survivability equipment for the Special Forces at Kirtland and Hurlburt Field.
VMM-263 at New River is the first operational squadron equipped with MV-22B aircraft and they'll deploy next year.
TC