PENTAGON CUTS $1.1 BILLION FROM MARINE CORPS' OSPREY PROGRAM

[Mike]

PENTAGON CUTS $1.1 BILLION FROM MARINE CORPS' OSPREY PROGRAM
The Defense Department is cutting $1.1 billion from the Marine Corps'
MV-22 Osprey program, which could lead naval officials to significantly
curtail the number of tiltrotors DOD buys in the coming years...The
Navy Department, which oversees the purchase of Marine Corps aircraft,
is still evaluating the impact of the Pentagon's directive. The cut
is to procurement funds -- not quantities, which are yet to be
contracted and therefore are not as precise as the money....

4 MV-22s in FY-07, 19 in FY-08, 30 in FY-09, 35 in FY-10 and 38 in
FY-11.

DOD has not publicly disclosed the total cost of the Osprey program.
The Pentagon's latest public estimates indicate the total cost of
buying 458 Ospreys is roughly $50.5 billion. That includes 360 MV-22s,
50 CV-22s and 48 so-called Navy tiltrotors, though it remains
questionable whether the Navy will ever buy Ospreys for its own force.

In other Osprey-related news, Bell-Boeing delivered its first Block B
MV-22 to the Marine Corps at a ceremony at Bell's facility in
Amarillo, TX, Dec. 8. This is the baseline configuration of the
aircraft that officials plan to introduce to the fleet by September
2007. It is the 19th Osprey delivered this year.