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WASHINGTON: The US Marine Corps fleet of 46 V-22 Ospreys is flying again after being grounded by a computer chip problem, a senior U.S. Navy official said on Monday, rejecting any suggestion the planes were not ready for operational use in Iraq.
“I don't think there's anything about this incident that would in any way suggest that we're not ready for operations,” William Balderson, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for air programs, told reporters. The Navy oversees Marine Corps programs.
The tilt-rotor aircraft, which take off like a helicopter and fly like aircraft, are made by Boeing Co. and Textron Inc.'s Bell Helicopter unit.
Texas Instruments Inc. made the chip that failed to perform as expected in extremely cold temperatures.
The aircraft was grounded for nearly two years after two deadly accidents in 2000. It has continued to face technical issues in subsequent years, including a fire that led to restricted use of an engine air cleaner for some time.
Balderson said the companies and the V-22 program office were continuing to investigate how the chip problem occurred, but said he was pleased the problem was detected by the planes' testing systems.
“The process worked itself through pretty well,” he said. “We didn't have any malfunctions or any problems in flight … and we got it corrected pretty quickly.”
Balderson said all but one aircraft passed the necessary inspections to resume flights and the final airplane was due to be inspected at midday Monday.
“They're returned to unrestricted flight status and we consider this problem behind us,” he said.
The Marine Corps expected to deploy the new V-22s to Iraq later this year, saying their ability to fly higher and faster than older helicopters could make them less vulnerable to ground attacks.
