WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Wednesday spoke at a U.S. Defense Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Select Department of Defense Acquisition Programs. In his questions to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Douglas Bush, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition Nickolas Guertin, and Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Andrew Hunter, Murphy raised concerns about the safety and cost of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.

Murphy pressed Hunter and Guertin on plans to address the ongoing safety issues with the V-22 Osprey: “At the end of November 2023, we saw yet another fatal Osprey crash that claimed the lives of eight airmen due to a parts failure. From March 2022 to November 2023, we had 20 service members die in four fatal crashes. In February of 2023, DOD indicated that it had solved the hard clutch engagement problem thought to be behind these accidents with 99% certainty. The Department made that assurance only for two more Ospreys to go down in Australia in August and then in Japan in November of 2023 – the accident I referenced. This is an important program. It's an expensive program, but it's a program that seems to be plagued by significant and deadly safety concerns…. Can you update the Committee on how your services are working to address these unanswered and ongoing safety problems with the V-22 Osprey?”

On the Army’s decision to move forward with a tiltrotor aircraft for the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program, despite safety concerns and its cost being twice that of the competing bid, Murphy said: “This committee is left with a contract award for a major program for the Army that has potential major cost implications and has serious safety concerns. So let me ask you, can you talk about the steps that are being taken by the Department and the Army with respect to the FLRAA contract that is underway to ensure that this new tiltrotor – the Valor – does not expose Soldiers to the same risks that are apparent with the tiltrotor Osprey?”

Murphy concluded: “I think anybody who has followed the history of military aviation would submit there have been particularly difficult problems with the tiltrotor in part because of the complexity of its design. And I certainly worry that we have not, to any degree of satisfaction to these families, settled the safety concerns on the Osprey. And to your point, Secretary Bush, we are developing a new version of the tiltrotor, and so some of the lessons learned will be applicable, but there's also just as good a chance that there are going to be a whole new set of safety concerns with the Valor that are going to add to the expense of this program, that are ultimately going to be significant safety liabilities for our servicemen and cost liabilities for this Committee.”

Last year, Murphy raised questions about the Army’s evaluation and selection process for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program.

A full transcript of his remarks can be found below:

MURPHY: “Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Good to see you all. Thank you all for your service. I wanted to turn to a very expensive program with a set of serious safety concerns attached to it. That's the tiltrotor V-22 Osprey program.

“At the end of November 2023, we saw yet another fatal Osprey crash that claimed the lives of eight airmen due to a parts failure. From March 2022 to November 2023, we had 20 service members die in four fatal crashes. In February of 2023, DOD indicated that it had solved the hard clutch engagement problem thought to be behind these accidents with 99% certainty. The Department made that assurance only for two more Ospreys to go down in Australia in August and then in Japan in November of 2023 – the accident I referenced.

“This is an important program. It's an expensive program, but it's a program that seems to be plagued by significant and deadly safety concerns. So, Assistant Secretary Hunter and Assistant Secretary Guertin, let me ask you this. I know you take these losses tremendously seriously. Can you update the Committee on how your services are working to address these unanswered and ongoing safety problems with the V-22 Osprey?”

GUERTIN: “Senator, you're right. This is a particularly grave concern. The Navy and Air Force took it very seriously. We did a grounding of those aircraft after the November crash, and we rigorously investigated. We looked at what the, we actually brought that craft back up out of the water, we investigated what was going on, did a detailed analysis. And we better understand what happened in that particular failure mode. We have established a crawl, walk, run approach to get back to the point where we can get back to the flight envelope. We’re not there yet. Getting back to the crawl, walk, run, we're now in a limited envelope. But we're characterizing and collecting data, so that we can better understand where we are and be able to safely get back to the full flight envelope of that aircraft.

“The Marines have been flying that thing for years. They have a lot of them. They love that aircraft. But we have to make sure that it's safe for them to fly.”

HUNTER: “Senator, I appreciate the question. We obviously very deeply regret the loss of life. It was a terrible tragedy. We have been working very closely with the Navy on this, sharing our engineering expertise. The Navy is the lead, has the lead engineering role and function for this platform. But it's an important platform for the Air Force as well. And as Secretary Guertin indicated with the crawl, walk, run approach, we have definitely taken great care. And I know AFSOC has taken great care to ensure that as we return, as we get on the path to return to flight operations, every step of an echelon of the operating units and the support functions that support them are ready to go to the next stage to resume flight operations.”

MURPHY: “Twenty service members last lost in the last two years, 60 service members lost overall to the Osprey. Look forward to continuing this dialogue. To Secretary LaPlante, Secretary Bush, I will note that the Army decided in 2022 to move forward with a tiltrotor aircraft for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), despite these safety concerns, and despite the tiltrotor bid being close to twice the cost of the competing bid.

“And so this committee is left with a contract award for a major program for the Army that has potential major cost implications and has serious safety concerns. So let me ask you, can you talk about the steps that are being taken by the Department and the Army with respect to the FLRAA contract that is underway to ensure that this new tiltrotor – the Valor – does not expose soldiers to the same risks that are apparent with the tiltrotor Osprey?”

BUSH: “I'll just say a few words and then turn it over to my colleague Doug. Obviously the safety considerations and the hard facts of what you've been saying about these terrible losses in the last year, year and a half, weigh heavily on us. And I know the Army is, it's all part of how they're considering going forward with these programs. I'll let Doug continue.”

LAPLANTE: “Senator, thank you for the question. I believe the Army, we believe we will benefit from the 20 years of engineering experience and knowledge that the Osprey will provide to our design, which we believe will be fundamentally different in certain respects, to make it as reliable and safe an aircraft as possible. Sir, military aircraft do tragically crash sometimes. Military service is inherently dangerous. But we are committed to, of course, the safest aircraft we could possibly get. And we will work with members on that as we move forward.”

MURPHY: “Well, I appreciate your answers. But I think anybody who has followed the history of military aviation would submit there have been particularly difficult problems with the tiltrotor in part because of the complexity of its design. And I certainly worry that we have not, to any degree of satisfaction to these families, settled the safety concerns on the Osprey.

“And to your point, Secretary Bush, we are developing a new version of the tiltrotor, and so some of the lessons learned will be applicable, but there's also just as good a chance that there are going to be a whole new set of safety concerns with the Valor that are going to add to the expense of this program, that are ultimately going to be significant safety liabilities for our servicemen and cost liabilities for this committee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”

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