Marines Say Aircraft Flaws Can Be Fixed

The Marine Corps acknowledged 23 “deficiencies” in its MV-22 Osprey but said it is confident they can be fixed before the Pentagon decides whether to enter full-scale production of the hybrid aircraft. The shortcomings--not involving safety issues--were publicly identified last year, and the Navy’s director of air warfare granted waivers to allow the Osprey to enter a phase of development called “operational evaluation” before the corrections were made, Marine spokeswoman Capt. Aisha M. Bakkar-Poe said. “None [of the deficiencies] are anything that would have any effect at all on the combat effectiveness of the aircraft,” she said.