In what I hope will become a regular feature of my diary I plan to present budget cutting proposals and analysis as to why they should be cut. In particular I will look at ways to cut government waste especially seedy government contracts.
In my first entry I will take aim at the "military industrial complex," by taking a look at the Marine Corps 20 year old Osprey program and explain why it should be cut and how it can save $400 million of the taxpayers money in 2004 and $6.1 billion over ten years. So without further adieu...
1. Program History
The V-22 Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter and flies like a plane by tilting its wing-mounted rotors to function as propellers. Combining a helicopter's operational flexibility with the greater speed, range, and efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft, the V-22 can perform such missions as troop/cargo transport, amphibious assault, special operations, and search and rescue operations. The aircraft according to Boeing can transport 24 marines or about 10,000 pounds of their equipment at speeds of up to 300 mph, a combat range of 500 miles and an operational ceiling of 26,000 ft.
Begun in 1982 by the Army and now funded in part by the Air Force, the V-22 has been primarily a Marine Corps program funded by the Navy Department. The aircraft is produced by Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing Helicopters, with engines produced by Rolls-Royce/Allison. Flight testing and operational evaluation of pre-production V-22s began in early 1997, with procurement of production aircraft approved in April 1997.
By 2002, already $13.2 billion had been spent on the Osprey Program.
Vice President Richard Cheney, then Secretary of Defense, actively sought to cancel the program during the period 1989-92 on grounds of affordability but was blocked. Congress continued to fund the program under the Clinton administration and continues to do so today.
2. Aircraft Performance
It remains unclear whether the V-22 can actually transport 24 marines or carry the purported payload. Additionally, the Osprey program has been scandal plagued with safety problems and bad press:
· A crash on April 8th, 2000 near Tucson, AZ killed all four crewmembers and 15 Marine Corp passengers during a simulation exercise. The story of the crash ran on the major networks and the front page of every major newspaper on April 9th and intermittently for the next week. The aircraft was grounded for 2 months before receiving a "mixed" review
· A crash on December 11th, 2000 near Jacksonville, NC killed all four crew including the programs most experienced pilot Lt. Colonel Keith Sweaney.
· Following the crash, a letter was leaked to the media claiming that the V-22's maintenance records had been falsified for two years. On September 15th, 2001 three Marines were found guilty of misconduct and two were reprimanded for their actions.
- Constituents harmed by the Cut
- Pennsylvania: The V-22 Osprey is in limited production and assembly at Boeing Helicopter's plant in Philadelphia, PA which employed 5,000 workers at the beginning of 2002 but is currently downsizing with the goal of having 3,500-4,000 workers by mid-year 2004. the V-22 represents only a small portion of the plants actual production as the vast majority of man-hours are spent producing the CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift transport helicopter and the RAH-66 Comanche light attack helicopter (considered by many to be another boondoggle). (Congressional District: Pennsylvania 9th, Curt Weldon-R)
- Indiana: The engines are produced by Allison Engine Company in Indianapolis, IN, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce North America. (Congressional District: Indiana 7th, Julia Carson-D)
- Texas: The wings, transmissions, empennage, and rotor systems are produced at Bell Helicopter Textron's plant in Fort Worth, TX though the vast majority of their workforce is tasked to their commercial production and other general production military helicopters. (Congressional District: Texas 24th, Martin Frost-D)
- Department of Defense Personnel: The Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Aviation Lt. General Fredirick McCorkle has called the V-22 "the Marine Corps highest aviation priority."
- Arguments for the Osprey Program
The V-22 is needed to replace aging military helicopters in all the services, which are
costly to maintain and operate safely and effectively. This tilt-rotor aircraft will provide the operational flexibility of a helicopter without the helicopter's inherent limitations of speed, range, and altitude. The Osprey has been rigorously tested and its accident rate is consistent with other aircraft development programs. Because of its increased speed it is safer from hostile fire and it can more quickly build up combat power because of increased turn-around times and troop/cargo capacity.
Some suggest that their could also be positive effects for civil aviation and U.S. technology, giving the U.S. aerospace industry a major competitive advantage in the international market. Supporters of the V-22 also cite the tilt-rotor's potential value for civil aviation, law enforcement, and foreign sales by the U.S. aerospace industry.
5. Arguments Against the Osprey Program
The V-22 is unaffordable ($72 million apiece in 2003 dollars)in the present budgetary environment, when the cost of buying large numbers of these transport/cargo aircraft would most likely be at the expense of more critical defense needs. Ship-to-shore logistical operations can be performed by less expensive helicopters for the kinds of landing operations in which the Marines are likely to be involved, where the V-22's greater speed and range would not be needed. Moreover, Marine assault missions in an opposed landing would involve ship-to-shore movement of troops and equipment, which would require coordination with aircraft having less speed and range than the V-22.
Whatever commercial value a tilt-rotor aircraft might some day have for civil aviation, the V-22's value as a military system is insufficient to justify its cost in these times of budgetary constraints and higher priority defense needs. In light of several V-22 crashes,
three involving fatalities, many would argue that the tilt-rotor technology is not sufficiently mature to merit the Osprey's production and fielding. Finally, there are some doubts on the Osprey's operational capabilities and operational concepts. Specifically, the V-22's cabin may not be large enough to carry 24 combat-equipped Marines, and the severe rotor "down wash" may impede the ability of troops to exit the aircraft and move into combat positions.
6. OPTIONS
The Congressional Budget Office Presents the following option:
"This option assumes that DoD would buy a total of 360 S-92s for the Marine Corps and 48 S-92s for the Navy in place of an equal number of V-22s. (Only 215 of those S-92s would be purchased through 2013, however--163 fewer than the number of V-22s that would have been bought by then under DoD's 2003 plan. The slower acquisition occurs because modifying the S-92 for maritime missions and testing the plane are assumed to take several years.) The S-92 can transport roughly the same number of troops and carry about the same amount of weight externally as the V-22 can. Purchasing S-92s for the Navy's search-and-rescue mission would provide commonality with the Marine Corps's aircraft and could also provide commonality with the Air Force's since the S-92 is a candidate to perform that service's search-and-rescue mission as well. (OSD may also be considering purchasing an improved version of the UH-1, a utility helicopter already in the Marine Corps's helicopter fleet. That plane might be used to augment the capabilities of the V-22 if replacing all of the CH-46s became too expensive. Or OSD might substitute a combination of CH-53Es and UH-1s for the V-22s if the latter continued to experience safety problems.)
Some analyses of alternatives to the V-22 have suggested that more than one helicopter would need to be purchased to replace the lift capability lost from cutting the number of V-22s that DoD had planned to buy. Consequently, under this option, DoD would buy additional helicopters, specifically 80 CH-53s from 2008 through 2013. The Marine Corps would buy CH-53s that incorporated a number of improvements over the CH-53Es in the fleet today. Buying just 10 of the improved CH-53s would add the capacity to transport another 360,000 pounds of equipment or 550 troops. Together with the S-92s, those CH-53s would provide almost as much capability as the planned fleet of V-22s. The option would save nearly $400 million in 2004 and $6.1 billion over five years."
I say it sounds like a good idea and if marketed right it would be even easier because these things have gotten terrible press over the years and it is unclear if there has been any improvement.