US Marine Corps takes delivery of final MV-22B Osprey, completing 359-aircraft procurement

Published Jul 28, 09:00 PM UTC

The U.S. Marine Corps has taken delivery of its final MV-22B Osprey, completing procurement of 359 tiltrotor aircraft over two decades. The Osprey, which can fly like an airplane and hover like a helicopter, serves as the backbone of Marine aviation within the Marine Corps Air-Ground Task Force. Lt. Gen. William Swan stated the aircraft transformed Marine aviation by connecting ships, bases, and forward positions in unprecedented ways. The Osprey accounts for 75% of the Corps' rotary-wing assault support capability and has logged over 686,500 flight hours across 114 deployments. However, the fleet has faced safety issues including hard clutch engagement failures, which caused a fatal crash in June 2022 that killed five Marines. The entire Osprey fleet was temporarily grounded in 2023 over the issue. No hard clutch engagements have been reported since February 2023, but flight restrictions remain on certain Proprotor Gearbox components. The Marines will now shift from fielding to sustaining and modernizing the fleet, with Ospreys expected to remain in service through 2055.