I need a little help from the FRairwing. What the heck is "This versatile, self-deployable aircraft"
"Self-deployable" is not a term I'd hook up to aircraft.
That means that the aircraft can be flown to theatre, rather than being partially dissasembled and shipped by boat or cargo plan, as is the case for helicopters.
Self-deployable means an Osprey unit can load their people and stuff in their planes and fly from where they are to where they need to be, refueling in midair enroute.
The capability hasn't been thoroughly tested yet. One pair of Ospreys went to Europe and back, but one of them lost an engine on the way out and had to land for a precautionary engine replacement.
The press, and anti-defense groups like the Center for Defense Information, a former Soviet front that has opposed every weapon since the M-2 carbine, had a field day with that, but at show's end, the two Ospreys redeployed to the USA with no drama. East to West in the northern hemisphere is the hard one cause the winds are against you. Of course, there is no reporting of the successes of this program in the MSM. Doesn't fit the template, you know. ("Military people are too dumb to get anything right, while being evil masterminds at all times. Defence contractors are all crooked, new weapons are all failures, and no one tells the truth except for lawyers and lobbyists").
To answer the guy that asked about accidents, there were three fatal crashes in the development of the Osprey, in 1992 and two in 2000. They led to design and operational changes (the accident that killed 19 was due to pilot error, so training in that aspect of the flight regime and the particular hazard that undid those marines has been reemphasized).
Many aircraft have suffered the crash of a prototype or crashes in the test program, off the top of my head I can think of the P-38, P-51, B-17, B-29, B-52 and F-14 as a few examples. "Sacrifices must be made!" (last words of aviation pioneer, and air crash victim, Otto Lilienthal)
d.o.l.
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