Marines Get What They Want

One of the hallmarks of being a good Marine is that you never give up. It's a winning philosophy -- perseverance -- and it appears to have won for the Corps the aircraft it's wanted for some 20 years: The V-22 Osprey.

"The Marines are as good at fighting budget wars as they are fighting real wars," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group. "They seem to always get what they want." Aboulafia was quoted by the Dallas Morning News.

Indeed, with operational tests about to conclude, the results would seem to be a foregone conclusion.

"We're looking forward to the results when they officially come out," Marine Col. Bill Taylor, the deputy program manager for the U.S. Navy-led V-22 program, told the Morning News from the Paris Air Show.

But the Marines aren't the only ones who've persevered during the long saga of the Osprey. So have Boeing and Bell workers who brought the revolutionary aircraft from the realm of imagination, through a series of deadly mishaps, to fruition.

"We had the determination and perseverance to bring a new technology into production," said Mike Redenbaugh, CEO of Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter.

"It has such an advantage on survivability and speed. It has made a critical political breakthrough," agreed Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute who also spoke with the Morning News. "All the senior management in the Pentagon now agree it's revolutionary. At this point, the V-22 is so secure that if it had a training mishap, it wouldn't even derail the program."

FMI: www.boeing.com/rotorcraft/military/v22/flash.html