Navy Aviation

V-22 Development--Schedule Extended, Performance Reduced, and Costs Increased Gao ID: NSIAD-94-44 January 13, 1994

Major elements of the Navy's V-22 Osprey remain inadequate or untested after eight years of development. In May 1986, the Navy anticipated full-scale development of the V-22 to be completed in June 1992 at a total cost of $1.8 billion. In October 1992, when the full-scale development contract was terminated, the V-22 had been in development for six years at a cost of $2 billion. Even so, the V-22 was more than 3,500 pounds heavier than its specifications called for, which limited its operational capabilities. Design and operational work was not completed on such critical components as the wing, the main landing gear, flight controls, and the rotor drive system. The price tag for purchasing each of the tilt-rotor aircraft, which are designed to take off and land like helicopters and to fly like fixed-wing planes, could reach $64 million. GAO recommends that the Navy use more-realistic capability assumptions in its new cost, operational, and effectiveness analysis of the V-22 variant and the helicopter alternatives. GAO also recommends that if the V-22 variant is chosen as a cost-effective candidate, the Navy eliminate or significantly reduce the overlap in its development and production to ensure that operational requirements are met before procurement funds are requested or a commitment is made to production.

GAO found that: (1) V-22 development will take several years longer and cost billions more than planned; (2) the Navy expects development of the V-22 variant to be completed in 6 years at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion; (3) several IDA study assumptions about V-22 performance may not be realized; (4) the Navy is considering low-rate initial production of 12 V-22 variant aircraft before testing and evaluation can be performed; and (5) the Department of Defense plans to spend about $1 million to conduct a cost and operational effectiveness analysis comparing the V-22 variant and helicopter options.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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