Pentagon Orders More V-22 Osprey Planes

The Pentagon gave a boost to the U.S. Marine Corps’ V-22 Osprey program, saying Boeing Co. and Textron Inc. could produce 152 aircraft through 2009, seven more than the 145 budgeted.

The Osprey is a fixed-wing plane with rotors that tilt so the craft can take off and land like a helicopter. The plane was grounded and the program put on probation after two crashes in 2000 that killed 23 Marines. Reports at the time from the Pentagon’s top testing office said the Osprey was unreliable.

Testing resumed in May 2002. Michael Wynne, the Pentagon’s acting undersecretary for acquisition, said the extra planes were contingent on the aircraft’s passing its current two-year round of increasingly difficult development and combat flight tests.

From Bloomberg News