The Pentagon's Defence Acquisition Board (DAB) has given the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey a clean bill of health after being satisfied that renewed testing over the past year had addressed a number of safety and reliability issues, including vortex ring state. The DAB did not, as had been expected, approve any increase in V-22 production beyond the current minimum sustained rate of 11 machines a year. The US Marine Corps had been hoping to increase this to 15 in 2005 as part of a gradual ramp-up in production, which is critical to reducing the Osprey's $78 million unit cost.
Source: Flight International
