But Admit Tilt-Rotor Aircraft Hasn't Been Battle-Tested

It's hard to recall an aircraft which was criticized more during its development than the V-22 Osprey. But after a year of deployment in Iraq without a major incident, the pilots who fly the tilt-rotor hybrid are giving it great reviews.

The Associated Press reports the Osprey has won over the Marine pilots who first flew it into a war zone... despite critics who said it lacked adequate armor and firepower, descends too slowly, is less maneuverable than a helicopter, cannot autorotate if engines fail, and kicks up too much dust.

But pilots say they appreciate the Osprey's speed advantage over the helicopters it is displacing, like the CH-46 Sea Knight. One says he can take the plane to altitudes beyond the reach of small-arms fire, "like a bat out of hell."

Military officials admit that direct comparisons to older helicopters can't yet be made, in part because modern-day political considerations limit the military's willingness to expose servicemen to risks.

Major Paul Kopacz led two Ospreys on a recent mission to Fallujah, and comments, "It's not the same World War II tactics that we used to deal with, or even Vietnam tactics. We have not been battle-tested because we aren't going guns blazing into hot zones. Our nation is now too sensitive to the loss of soldiers to let that happen."

To be fair, skeptics still remember problems that beset the V-22 during its development, including a series of technical failures and deadly crashes. Two of those accidents came in quick succession in 2000, killing a total of 23 Marines, and nearly ending the Osprey's development.

Military officials admit a few technical glitches in the field, many involving avionics or contamination of sensitive parts by the ubiquitous dust in the Iraq theater.

But they also consider the aircraft safe enough to have used it to transport Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama around Iraq on his tour earlier this year.

FMI: www.marines.mil