The V-22 Osprey was first unveiled in 1988 in Texas. The plane/helicopter had multiple accidents that resulted in many deaths, which was highly publicized. It was the subject of much criticism and and skeptics wanted to cut it out of the defense budget.
The reasoning behind this was not only the multiple accidents, but also the cost. The project's cost exploded from $68.7 million to $29.1 billion. The average cost per vehicle was $83.7 million. And this was by 2009- according to Fortune, by 2012, estimates say that the total cost could be $56 billion.
To touch on the crashes, the Osprey had its worst stint in the 90s. It crashed four times in non-combat operations, resulting in 30 deaths. Five more crashes have happened since then.
Politically, the Osprey survived throughout all this because it was an Iron Triangle. Congress overruled Dick Cheney's attempts to cut the program, and the Marine Corps drove the efforts to keep it alive.
The Osprey is just another instance of defense spending gone haywire- despite the project having recovered and being more successful today, it is wracked by catastrophe and bad spending.
Is the Osprey still alive today, and is it still being manufactured? If so, that is crazy! If they were still going to try and further the Osprey project, it would almost be better to go back into development before trying to continue manufacturing it right? This way, the project could still be continued, the plane/helicopter could be fixed and made functional, and the military woulds still benefit. The iron triangle that you pointed out would probably prevent this from happening though, because moving back into planning and development would mean stopping production, which is where these groups are really benefiting. Another great analysis on an example of an iron triangle in the defense industry that we didn't touch on in class!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example of an iron triangle because despite the numerous amount of deaths that the plane had created, the marine corps wanted to keep the plane alive, but how did the osprey program influence the development of other VTOL aircrafts? Im assuming that most of the other aircrafts were built to be practical, but some of them might have similar functions that are derived from the Osprey.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article, I'm a little iffy on the iron triangle in this situation. Why is it that despite the many complaints and deaths the Osprey lead to, congress still overruled Chaney's attempts to cut the program? Why would the congress want these dangerous air crafts to stay in commission, what good does it do for them? I've tried looking for sources on this but haven't found one that specifically states why attempts to shut down the v-22 program have failed. I could be missing out on such a simple concept, but I'd like to know as why to the marine and congress continue to allow the program to run.
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