The Japanese V-22 Osprey fleet, the newest in the world, has not been affected by the hard clutch problem that led to the grounding of many American V-22s, a senior US defense official tells Breaking Defense — but that doesn’t mean the aircraft won’t need replacement parts in the future.
The official, speaking to Breaking Defense during a visit to Australia, also revealed new details about why the US Marine Corps decided to order a flight-stop for a chunk of its Osprey fleet, months after it downplayed a similar move by the US Air Force as unnecessary.
On Feb. 4, the Pentagon announced it was grounding an undefined “subset” of the Osprey fleet, used by the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force, due to wear on an engine part known as the “input quill assembly,” which connects the aircraft’s engine to the drive system. It had not previously stated if the Japanese Ospreys were impacted by the ground stop.
The Japanese have a fleet of 17 Ospreys, which they began receiving in July 2020 so they have relatively few hours compared to the majority of the Marine fleet. That means, the official said, they have never had to stop flying. However, the official would not rule out the need to replace those parts in the future as the Japanese Ospreys take on more flight hours.