A US Air Force CV-22 takes flight at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on 2 July 2024. A similar aircraft conducted a “precautionary landing” during a training sortie in New Mexico on 20 November. (USAF/Airman 1st Class Samantha White )
The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) V-22 Joint Program Office (JPO) recommended an “operational pause” of Bell-Boeing V-22 flights on 6 December, following a November incident that forced an Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) CV-22 to land.
“Out of an abundance of caution, NAVAIR recommended an operational pause for all V-22 Osprey variants,” said the organisation in a 6 December statement.
AFSOC has suspended CV-22 training. Neither the US Navy nor the US Marine Corps – the V-22's largest user, with a fleet of around 350 MV-22s – had responded to Janes queries at the time of publication.
“We are in close co-ordination with the V-22 Joint Program Office and aware of [its] operational pause recommendation,” AFSOC told Janes on 6 December. “In concurrence with their recommendation, Lieutenant General Michael Conley, AFSOC commander, has directed a pause for all CV-22 flight training operations. A pause in flight training operations allows time and space for us to understand what happened in the most recent event before we accept risk with unknown variables.”
The grounding recommendation follows a 20 November incident, AFSOC said. On that date a CV-22 flying from Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico – home to AFSOC's main CV-22 training unit – conducted a “precautionary landing”.
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