History of Cost and Operational Effectiveness Analyses of the V-22 Osprey

On July 19, 1990, Senator Danial Inouye chaired a subcommittee to address the fate of the USMC V-22 Osprey program. Prior to this meeting, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, at a time of increasing fiscal constraints on defense spending, in a controversial decision, terminated the V-22tilt rotor aircraft program. However, it was resurrected by Congress. Proponents of the V-22claimed the aircraft costs were justified since it represented revolutionary technology with long-term benefits to military and civil aviation. Therefore, a study was authorized through the office of the Honorable David Chu, then Assistant Secretary of Defense for Program Analysis and Evaluation. The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), was tasked to conduct the analyses. IDA conducts studies and analyses for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the unified commands, and the Defense agencies. IDA was specifically tasked to conduct an "Assessment of Alternatives for theV-22 Assault Aircraft Program." The study was led by Dr. L. Dean Simmons and supported by Professor Alfred Gessow and Kaydon A. Stanzione who served as Air Vehicle Technical Expert. The focus was on two key considerations that related to the cost of the aircraft: 1) the overall cost effectiveness of the alternative fleets measured over a 20-year period that was used as the principal basis for conclusions, and 2) the difference in the near-term costs for the alternative fleets.