WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — U.S. military’s hundreds of V-22 Osprey aircraft will not be permitted to fly a full range of missions until at least 2025.

Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, head of U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, told lawmakers at a House oversight hearing that it will be at least six months before the command can complete safety and performance assessments for Osprey.

Over the lifespan of the program, which began in 2007, 64 service members have been killed in air and ground accidents, and 93 have been injured, Chebi said.

Within the past two years, four crashes killed a total of 20 service members. Two incidents involved catastrophic materiel or mechanical failure the program had not encountered previously.

A crash in November 2023 near the coast of Japan killed eight service members, and the fleet was grounded for months.

Ospreys were returned to flight status in March, but in a limited capacity.

The military is attempting to fix a clutch failure identified a primary factor in a June 2022 crash that killed five Marines in California. Officials have not revealed which part failed in the November crash, but Chebi told the panel Wednesday the cause is “something we’d never seen before.”

Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch told Chebi to ground the fleet until all safety issues were fixed.

“What do you think the consequences will be if we have another V-22 go down and we lose more brave Marines or Airmen?” said Lynch. "If another Osprey goes down ... this program’s done. So why don’t we ground this now?”

Follow NEWSnet on Facebook and X platform to get our headlines in your social feeds.

Copyright 2024 NEWSnet and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.