Pentagon Watchdog Finds Osprey Still Kills Pilots, War Machine Undeterred
Bloomberg's latest piece on the V-22 Osprey details how accident rates have 'steadily increased' despite 'heightened scrutiny' and 'deadly mishaps.' For those who remember, the 'deadly mishaps' began decades ago, with the aircraft earning the nickname 'widow-maker' after early prototypes suffered numerous fatal crashes, leading figures like then-Defense Secretary Richard Cheney to question its
viability in the early 90s. The program almost faced cancellation multiple times, yet it persists, largely due to intense lobbying from manufacturers Boeing and Bell Helicopter Textron. One might wonder if the 'heightened scrutiny' truly translates to accountability, or merely to more contracts for 'fixes' from the same companies that built the original problematic design. The cost of this single
aircraft program has ballooned into the tens of billions of dollars, a figure that easily dwarfs the budgets for essential domestic programs, like mental health services or public education. But hey, at least we're still flying them.