...But Costly

Navy Secretary Gordon England got a ride aboard a V-22 Osprey Wednesday, proclaiming the tilt-rotor aircraft sound -- and beating up the manufacturer on the price.

"My judgment is that the design problems are behind us. Fundamentally, this is now a sound airplane. It's performing well," England told reporters in a conference call after his flight. He was quoted by Reuters.

"The challenge to the program now is cost," he said. "The airplane is still very costly. Compared to a conventional helicopter, it's about three times (the cost). It gives us vastly more capability. But nonetheless, we need to get the cost down."

Right now, an Osprey costs $73.3 million. England wants that cost down to $58 million by 2010. For Boeing and Bell, makers of the tilt-rotor aircraft, the return is still pretty staggering, even at that price. The Pentagon wants 458 of them.

And if the manufacturers can't meet the cost objective? "We're certainly not going to cut it out. And I don't see that we're going to be cutting quantities by any significant amount," England said.

England also addressed warnings that Bell Helicopter won't be able to ramp up production fast enough to meet the military's V-22 needs. "I think Bell is vastly better able to do it now than they were before," he said. But, "Bell has to continue to improve their operation."

FMI: http://pma275.navair.navy.mil