Helicopters mothballed in Arizona dusted off to help with shortage

Where is the V-22 Osprey?

There's no question that more large helicopters would be useful in combating the chaos caused by Hurricane Katrina. The article linked below explains that the United States Marine Corps is down to 150 heavy-lift MH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters (like the Marine One presidential copter), and the Corps has resorted to reconditioning copters that have been in "mothballs" for a decade or more. The Marines have not procured any new heavy helicopters in years, in large part due to funds allocated to the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor program. It's hard to know how much money the Pentagon has put into the Osprey over the past 20 years. I've seen estimates from $13 Billion to $60 Billion, with a projected program cost of $100 Billion.

Think of the moral boost if a groop of Ospreys, or even MH-53s swooped down at the New Orleans Convention Center and dropped off a whopping load of food water and porto-lets.

Even though the V-22 Osprey made its first flight in 1989, the plane is not fully operational. An assessment made in 2001 stated that only 1 in 5 deployed V-22 aircraft were fully servicable. The plane has been grounded repeatedly due to crashes, and there is currently an ongoing fraud trial regarding a component supplier.

The V-22 has a lot of potential, but eventually potential isn't good enough.