RL31384
V-22 Osprey Tilt-Rotor Aircraft: Background and Issues for Congress
June 10, 2009

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Summary:

The V-22 Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter and flies forward like an airplane. Department of Defense (DOD) plans call for procuring a total of 458 V-22s360 MV-22s for the Marine Corps; 50 CV-22 special operations variants for U.S. Special Operations Command, or USSOCOM (funded jointly by the Air Force and USSOCOM); and 48 HV-22s for the Navy. Through FY2009, a total of 181 V-22s have been procured155 MV-22s for the Marine Corps, and 26 CV-22s for USSOCOM. These totals include several V-22s that have been procured in recent years through wartime supplemental funding that has been provided in addition to DODs regular (aka base) budget. The proposed FY2010 budget requests about $2.3 billion funding for the procurement of 30 MV-22s for the Marine Corps and about $575 million in funding for the procurement of five CV-22s for USSOCOM. For FY2010, the V-22 program poses potential a number of potential oversight issues for Congress, including the aircrafts reliability and maintainability. As part of its proposed FY2009 supplemental appropriations bill (H.R. 2346/S. 1054), the administration requested $1.83 million in procurement funding and $3.9 million in research and development funding for the V-22 program. The House Appropriation Committees report on H.R. 2346 (H.Rept. 111-105 of May 12, 2009, pages 19 and 26) recommends rejecting both of these funding requests. The Senate Appropriation Committees report on S. 1054 (S.Rept. 111-20 of May 14, 2009, pages 39 and 48) recommends approving both of these funding requests. On May 21, 2009, a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to review the V-22 program was adjourned after a few minutes with the intent of being resumed in about two weeks. This report will be updated as events warrant.