The Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy will immediately start refreshing troops’ training and changing maintenance procedures as prerequisites for resuming normal operations, leaders from each of the services told reporters Wednesday.

But they acknowledged it will be months before the tiltrotor aircraft are fully back to flying real-world missions.

The Ospreys will receive no equipment modifications before they return to the air.

Marine Corps Col. Brian Taylor, the V-22 joint program manager, told reporters his office and the services “have high confidence that we understand what component failed and how it failed.” It’s still unclear why the part in question did not perform as intended.

Taylor and other service officials declined to say which component’s failure caused an Air Force Special Operations Command Osprey to crash into the sea during a training mission Nov. 29, killing all eight airmen aboard. They also declined to answer whether the aircraft would be restricted from flying under certain conditions or in certain areas due to the risk of a repeat problem.

The accident is still under investigation. The Air Force has shared its findings with the joint program office — which manages V-22 acquisition and maintenance for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps — and the other services to better understand the material failure that led to the crash.

Because the wreckage of the Osprey sat under the Pacific Ocean for about a month before being recovered, the drive system is corroded such that engineers may never understand why the unnamed component failed, Taylor said. But investigators created a “fault tree” to map out potential causes, which are addressed in the services’ mitigation plan.

The main change will increase the frequency of an inspection that is already done on the aircraft — like upping the number of oil changes on a car, Taylor said. He said the change gives the component a greater “perimeter of safety” during operations.

Though Taylor repeatedly declined to offer information about the component, he said it is not the input quill assembly that attaches the Osprey’s engine to its proprotor gear box — the component that began wearing out early and caused a series of clutch malfunctions for Marine Corps and Air Force pilots in 2022. A portion of the Air Force and Marine Corps fleets were grounded in 2023 as those services studied how to mitigate the risk of so-called “hard clutch engagements” and when to replace worn-out parts.

NBC reported Feb. 19 the November crash may have involved “chipping,” where tiny pieces of metal wear off during use and can damage the engine. Taylor did not specify whether chipping played a role in the crash, but characterized it as a normal phenomenon for a mechanical system and said the V-22 has a sophisticated monitoring system that looks for small metal bits and alerts the pilot if any are detected.

Taylor made clear the November crash was unrelated to other previous V-22 mishaps.

“This is the first time that we’ve seen this particular component fail in this way, and so this is unprecedented” in the 750,000 flight hours amassed over the life of the V-22 program, he said.

Due to that long track record, Taylor said: “We are confident in the system.”

The ‘Gundam 22′ crash

The Nov. 29 accident was the deadliest Air Force mishap since 2018, and the fourth fatal Osprey crash in a two-year span. Twenty U.S. troops have died in Osprey incidents since March 2022.

The downed crew of “Gundam 22″ included Osprey pilots Maj. Jeff Hoernemann, Maj. Luke Unrath and Capt. Terry Brayman; medical personnel Maj. Eric Spendlove and Tech. Sgt. Zach Lavoy; flight engineers Staff Sgt. Jake Turnage and Senior Airman Kody Johnson; and airborne linguist Staff Sgt. Jake Galliher.

Six were stationed at Japan’s Yokota Air Base; two worked at Kadena Air Base. All were assigned to the Air Force’s 353rd Special Operations Wing.

The weeks-long, multinational search effort successfully recovered the bodies of all but Spendlove.

The U.S. military now flies hundreds of V-22s, largely operated by the Marines. The tiltrotor aircraft is known for its towering nacelles that allow it to launch and land like a helicopter, and speed forward like a fixed-wing plane. Troops use the unique aircraft to slip in and out of areas without established runways, where fixed-wing planes may not be able to land with troops and supplies.

The Marine Corps owns nearly 350 Ospreys; the Air Force and Navy operate smaller fleets at around 50 and 30 aircraft, respectively.

Beyond the safety and accident investigation boards studying the most recent crash, Air Force Special Operations Command is also conducting a deep-dive into its CV-22 Osprey program to determine whether it provides adequate training, resources and other factors to ensure airmen’s safety.

The Government Accountability Office and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability have also launched their own probes into the V-22. On Wednesday, Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House oversight committee, said it had not yet received information from the military as it looks into the aircraft’s safety and performance.

“Serious concerns remain, such as accountability measures put in place to prevent crashes, a general lack of transparency, how maintenance and operational upkeep is prioritized, and how DOD assesses risks,” Comer said in a statement. “We will continue to rigorously investigate the DOD’s Osprey program to attain answers to our questions on behalf of American taxpayers and protect U.S. service members defending our nation.”

Marines prepare

As the biggest user of the V-22 platform by far, the Marine Corps has been most affected by the monthslong grounding. It relies on the Osprey to move people, supplies and weapons, and operates from ship decks and from ground bases.

Brig. Gen. Richard Joyce, the assistant deputy commandant for aviation, told reporters the Marine Corps has focused on keeping up troops’ proficiency on the Osprey since the grounding began in early December so the service could resume flights as quickly as possible.

“Our simulator utilization has been maximized to keep proficiency as much as possible in the virtual environment,” he said.

The service has gone as far as sending MV-22 pilots in Djibouti thousands of miles away to use simulators in Japan, and shipping MV-22 pilots who are deployed to the Middle East with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit back home to North Carolina for simulator training.

Now that the program office has cleared the aircraft to fly, the Corps’ most experienced pilots and aircrew will begin maintenance-check flights to get the Ospreys up in the air, then retrain on “core and basic skills,” Joyce said. Once those top personnel have brushed up on the fundamentals, they’ll pair with junior pilots and crew for additional basic training.

Joyce said it would take about a month for a squadron to get everyone back up to speed basic skills.

However, it will take more time for the personnel to retrain on more advanced skills and mission-specific tasks for combat assaults, transport flights and other missions.

The general said it would take until late spring or early summer to get back to pre-grounding readiness levels.

V-22 squadrons will go through more consumable parts, like filters, as they take on additional inspections and maintenance, he said. Those parts and training support will first go to deployed units, followed by squadrons with upcoming deployments, squadrons participating in key exercises or service-level training events, and eventually to test-and-evaluation units and those farthest from a future deployment.

The amphibious assault ship Boxer and the 15th MEU are set to deploy from California this spring, and Joyce said it’s not clear yet if they’ll be ready to bring the V-22 along. It’s one of the most pressing decisions related to resuming V-22 flight operations, he said.

Air Force’s ongoing studies

Airmen have done the work required to keep the Air Force’s Osprey fleet healthy during the three-month standdown, but “there’s only so much they can do with aircraft that are not flying,” Air Force Special Operations Command boss Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind told reporters Wednesday.

He described a 12-week road map to getting the Ospreys back in the air that adds new maintenance requirements and allows experienced airmen to lead the way. The service will deviate from that plan as needed if work isn’t progressing on schedule.

Returning the aircraft to service begins with ground and simulator training that will include new safety controls and briefings, a review of aircraft maintenance records and refining squadron-level training plans to implement the new safety protocols, Bauernfeind said.

The Air Force did not elaborate on what new safety protocols will be introduced. AFSOC held an all-hands for Osprey crews Feb. 22-23 at Hurlburt Field, Florida, to explain the new safety protocols.

“We received very positive feedback that it was very beneficial to the crews,” Bauernfeind said.

The second phase will focus on returning air crews and maintainers to basic proficiency, initially targeted at senior aviators, instructors, evaluators and weapons officers. Simulator training has helped keep skills sharp during the standdown.

The phased approach gives the service time to absorb findings from the service’s initial safety investigation, an internal report meant to root out the cause of a mishap and prevent future occurrences. Bauernfeind received and accepted the findings of the safety board March 1.

He expects it will take the service more than three months to reach the level of proficiency it had on the Osprey before the Nov. 29 crash.

Bauernfeind said he’s confident in the service’s ability to safely resume Osprey operations before wrapping up two ongoing investigations. The Air Force has kept the families of the downed crew informed about the process, but has not told them the results of the recently completed safety investigation board.

“I have confidence that we know enough now to return to fly,” he said.

Navy’s path to at-sea missions

The Navy will take a similarly cautious approach to resuming its flights, putting only its most experienced personnel in the air first for basic flights in daytime-only conditions, Commander of Naval Air Forces Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever told reporters.

Those top personnel will then pair with junior sailors and eventually resume night operations and other, more complex training. The Navy will lastly resume training new pilots and aircrew at the fleet replacement squadrons.

But Cheever warned that returning to flight wasn’t the same as returning to mission: It may be several more months until the Navy sees its CMV-22Bs flying operational missions to haul cargo and people to aircraft carriers at sea.

Cheever said the Navy would avoid long, over-ocean flights until all personnel had built up sufficient proficiency. But when asked about any restrictions on the aircraft regarding duration of over-water flights, he deferred to NAVAIR. Taylor, from the V-22 program office under NAVAIR, declined to say whether there were or were not any operational limitations for the planes under the new return-to-flight plan.

Cheever highlighted the Navy’s flexibility and said all carriers at sea had fared well during the V-22 grounding. The Navy relied on its C-2A Greyhound, which is set to sundown in 2026 as it’s replaced by the CMV-22B, to resupply carriers at sea, including the Theodore Roosevelt deployed in the Indo-Pacific today.

He said the Navy also relied more heavily on its replenishment ship fleet and looked to load more goods onto carriers when they were in port.

But he noted the importance of getting the CMV-22 back to its mission, saying it can conduct medical evacuations and haul large F-35C engine components — unlike its aging predecessor.

Most service members are young, and by virtue of the fact that they’re considered fit to serve, by definition not immunocompromised.

“What we’re trying very hard to do is not scare people by saying everybody is at risk, because that’s not true,” Friedrichs said. “It’s just not true.”

Since coronavirus began spreading late last year, one service member and his spouse have been diagnosed. The widow of a retired soldier and two other DoD dependents ― all living in Daegu, South Korea ― have also been diagnosed, out of more than 80,000 cases worldwide.

“Those are small numbers,” Friedrichs said. “And I don’t want to seem like I’m being a Pollyanna here and saying everything is rosy, but really, the numbers within the DoD that we are treating are very small, and they’re all getting the care that they need based on the CDC guidelines.”

While health professionals and government agencies are still learning more about the virus, how it spreads and how deadly it is, Friedrichs said, there are some hard-and-fast criteria for people whose immune systems aren’t 100 percent.

“If they’re someone who routinely gets sick before anybody else, then we definitely want to make sure that we’re aware of that,” he said.

Someone undergoing chemotherapy for cancer treatment would also be at a much higher risk.

“If they’re already sick,” Friedrichs added. “If they’ve recently had an illness and they’re recovering from that, then they may get another illness, because their immune system is focusing on their immediate illness that they’re recovering from right now.”

As far as specific conditions, whether it’s asthma or chronic pulmonary disease, he added, that research is evolving.

“We’re still learning which groups are at most risk,” he said. “What we’re just not seeing is people under the age of 20 really getting sick with this, regardless of what else they have.”

It’s also likely that there are asymptomatic carriers unwittingly spreading the virus, he said, because not everyone who has tested positive worldwide has shown symptoms.

Officials could not confirm the number of of coronavirus tests so far administered to troops, their families or DoD civilians, nor did they have numbers readily available on false positives.

It is protocol, Friedrichs said, to run a second test on any positives and send those kits to the CDC in Atlanta for confirmation.

Limiting the spread

While coronavirus has been very localized in the military community, the services are taking precautions to screen every new recruit before they set foot on an installation.

The Army began using a series of questions and taking the temperatures of its newest basic trainees on Tuesday, with instructions to isolate anyone who is showing symptoms, has had contact with a high-risk population or is running a fever over 99.5.

The Navy began a similar process in January, according to a spokesman.

“Any recruit identified as having symptoms or having traveled overseas to certain regions in the last 14 days would be addressed by medical personnel for follow-on assessment and treatment,” Lt. Samuel Boyle told Military Times on Wednesday.

The Marine Corps is also screening at its recruit depots, according spokesman Capt, Christopher Harrison.

While the Air Force is not specifically screening at its basic training units, it is leaning on its recruiters and staff at Military Entrance Processing Stations to catch any symptoms or particular risks.

“Members at MEPS have virus protocol procedures to observe and take temperatures of all individuals entering MEPS facilities,” according to Jennifer Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Air Education and Training Command Spokesperson. recruiters also complete a medical pre-screen on all applicants that covers all medical concerns, to include COVID-19.”

U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced the Saudi students’ removal Monday during a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington. Barr said there was no indication the gunman, Saudi Air Force 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani, who was killed by a sheriff’s deputy, acted in concert with other Saudi cadets or foreign nationals in the program.

“This was an act of terrorism,” he said.

Of the 21 being removed, investigators found 17 had posted anti-American or “jihadi” content on social media and 15 had had contact with child pornography, mostly via a chat room in which one or two images had been posted.

Barr said none of the content rose to the level of federal prosecution and added that the Saudi government found the material unbecoming for its officers and would assist in the event of additional investigatory needs. Of those being removed, 12 came from Pensacola while the other nine were located at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, Laughlin and Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Air Force bases in Texas and Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

There are about 150 Saudi cadets in the training pipeline at Pensacola.

After being notified of the concerning content, “the Department of Defense worked with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to withdraw the students from training and in consultation with the Department of Justice, the DOD worked with the Saudi Embassy in the United States to return these students to Saudi Arabia,” Pentagon press secretary Alyssa Farah said in a statement released Monday evening.

In the year and a half before the shooting, Alshamrani left a social media trail that indicated he’d been influenced by “jihadist ideology” and believed violence was necessary to defend Muslim countries. He also posted a message containing anti-American and anti-Israeli comments two hours before the attack as well as another that raised concern.

“We learned that the shooter posted a message on Sept. 11 of this year stating that the countdown has begun,” Barr said.

A senior Justice Department official said an investigation in the Southern District of New York that was opened after officials learned Alshamrani visited the 9/11 Memorial there with friends during the Thanksgiving break did not reveal anything.

Barr and FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch described a chilling scene in which Alshamrani arrived at a schoolhouse and cased the building, walking around and shooting others in what Barr said was “in cold blood.” Alshamrani’s rampage lasted 15 minutes, eight of which he was engaged by Navy security. Investigators found Alshamrani’s handgun, which they previously have said he purchased legally in July using a hunting loophole, as well as 180 rounds of ammunition. He also shot photos of President Donald Trump and a past commander in chief, Bowditch said.

But investigators said they may still be missing key pieces of evidence. The department has tried to gain access to two iPhones that Alshamrani carried, including one that he shot during the rampage and another that was found damaged in his car. FBI crime lab experts have gotten the phones working but “both are engineered to make it virtually impossible to unlock without the password,” Barr said.

Despite pleas to Apple, the company has so far not assisted in helping unlock the phones. A senior justice department official speaking on background said it is not clear that the company has the ability to do so.

“It is very important for us to know with whom and about what the shooter was communicating before he died,” Barr said, hinting at the larger issue of the law enforcement and privacy rights divide.

Barr also said that early reports that two other Saudi cadets arrived with Alshamrani and took video of the attack were incorrect. Those cadets “took some video of the resulting commotion around the building” and later cooperated fully with authorities, Barr said.

About a dozen Saudi students who knew Alshamrani were restricted to the Pensacola base by their commanding officer while the Pentagon reviewed policies and procedures guiding officials who screen international military students before being allowed into the U.S. to train.

That included a moratorium on all operational instruction for Saudi students in the country now, plus a bar on new students entering the training programs, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan R. Hoffman told reporters during a briefing in December.

Barr declined to speculate as to whether improved vetting would have deterred the attack. Pentagon spokesman Air Force Lt. Col Uriah Orland told Navy Times in an email late Monday afternoon that Defense Secretary Mark Esper “has the results of the vetting review and we will release appropriate information in the near future.”

The Navy posthumously advanced two enlisted sailors — Airman Mohammed S. Haitham and Airman Apprentice Cameron S. Walters — to naval aircrewman mechanical third class. Ensign Joshua K. Watson was advanced to aviator. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly had previously awarded Haitham and Walters Wings of Gold, posthumously designating them naval aircrewmen.

The Navy has not identified the shooter but NAS Pensacola base commander Capt. Timothy Kinsella said during an afternoon news conference that he was a student in the Navy aviation pipeline.

“He was training in aviation,” Kinsella said.

Pentagon officials later confirmed to the Washington Post and other outlets that the slain gunman was a junior Saudi officer, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani.

He was among a couple hundred international students that train at the base, which is the primary initial training stop for all Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard officers seeking to become aviators or flight officers, plus international students.

During a Friday night press conference, FBI Jacksonville Field Office Special Agent In Charge Rachel Rojas declined to confirm the suspect’s name or a motive. She described the carnage as a “large crime scene.”

“This is still very much an active and ongoing investigation,” Rojas said.

FBI is leading the probe assisted by base security and agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan confirmed during a separate press conference earlier Friday that the wounded include two officers, one shot in the knee and the other in the arm.

The law enforcement officer shot in the arm killed the shooter, Morgan said. The other was in surgery Friday and both were expected to recover.

Morgan said the incident was confined to the building and the classroom.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags across the state of Florida to be flown at half-staff and remain so until sunset Dec. 13 in honor and remembrance of the victims.

Saying he had spoken to President Donald J. Trump earlier, DeSantis announced during the afternoon news conference that the “government of Saudi Arabia is going to owe a debt here to the victims.”

Trump vowed that U.S. military investigators would “get to the bottom of” the mass shooting.

At a business event in the White House Friday afternoon, Trump said he received a call from Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz earlier in the day condemning the action.

“The king and the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and he said that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people, who love the American people,” Trump said.

“It’s a horrible thing that took place.”

After offering his condolences to the injured, Trump promised that the White House will work closely with defense officials on a response to the attack.

Saudi officials did not answer questions about the shooting submitted to the embassy by Navy Times in writing Friday morning.

But Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Riyadh’s deputy defense minister who trained as a fighter pilot at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, said in a Friday tweet that the “tragic event is strongly condemned by everyone in Saudi Arabia.”

“A large number of Saudi graduates of the Naval Air Station in Pensacola moved on to serve with their U.S counterparts in battlefronts around the world, helping to safeguard the regional and global security,” he added.

It remains unclear how a Saudi student was able to obtain a firearm and Kinsella said that even sailors assigned to the air station “cannot bring your weapon on base.”

Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper issued a statement offering condolences to families of the victim’s in Friday’s attack as well as a shooting spree that left three people dead on Wednesday at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The Navy identified the shooter in that incident as well as two civilian victims on Friday.

His third victim is recovering in a Honolulu hospital.

“The Department of Defense continues to monitor the situation in Pensacola and gather all the facts of each attack,” Esper said. “I’ve spoken with Governor DeSantis, the Secretary of the Navy, and Deputy Secretary Norquist and am considering several steps to ensure the security of our military installations and the safety of our service members and their families. I’m grateful for the heroism of the first responders and law enforcement who helped confront both situations and kept further loss of life from occurring.

“To all our sailors, soldiers, airmen, and marines, and civilian personnel, we stand ready to assist and make resources available to deal with the grief in the aftermath of these tragedies as well as life’s challenges in general.”

The names of the victims will not be released until the next of kin have been notified, officials added.

The Coast Guard 8th District’s spokesman John D. Edwards told Navy Times that all Coast Guard personnel are accounted for and they reported no injuries.

Marine officials told Marine Corps Times that all of their students and instructors also reported no injuries in the wake of the shooting.

Hours after the Pensacola mass shooting, Patrick Air Force Base in Florida received a bomb threat and evacuated the immediate area.

An all-clear was soon sounded after security forces, explosive ordnance disposal specialists and the fire department found there was no credible threat.

Meanwhile, the man authorities say drove a truck through the gate at Virginia’s Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story before striking a Navy police cruiser and killing a sailor inside on Saturday also was arraigned Friday.

Nathaniel Lee Campbell, 38, of Shenandoah, Virginia, is in the custody of the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office, the Virginia Beach Police Department said in a news release.

Master-at-Arms 3rd Class Oscar J. Temores was responding to a report of a gate runner around 7:35 p.m. Saturday when his police cruiser was struck head on by a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado pickup driven by Campbell at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Leyte Street, the Navy and police said.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly said in a prepared statement emailed to Navy Times that the entire Navy and Marine Corps are “struck and deeply saddened by the attacks within our own naval family over the past several days, at Little Creek, Virginia last week, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Wednesday, and today in Pensacola, Florida.

“These acts are crimes against all of us. Our prayers are with the families of the fallen and with the wounded. It is our solemn duty to find the causes of such tragic loss and ceaselessly work together to prevent them. Let us make concerted efforts to care for the families of those lost, and those wounded, visibly and not. Let us shepherd them through these first moments of despair, and make them, and our greater Naval family, whole and strong. “

It’s been what Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday called late Friday “a devastating week for our Navy family.”

“When tragedy hits, as it did today, and Wednesday in Pearl Harbor, it is felt by all,” said Gilday in a prepared statement emailed to Navy Times. “Those who grieve do not do so alone. We grieve together alongside you. We serve together as one team, as one Fleet, as part of one Joint Force.

“As shipmates — uniform and civilian, active and reserve — we must come together to be the strength and support for those who need us now. No one should feel alone. There are many resources available for us all — including counselors, chaplains and mental health professionals.

“We must look out for each other and take care of one another. That extra effort to extend a hand or lend an ear to those who need help should never be underestimated. It will make a difference.”

Later on Friday evening, Naval Air Base Pensacola officials shuttered the installation for the weekend to all hands except mission essential personnel.

While families who live on base will be able to enter the gates, the National Naval Aviation Museum and Barrancas National Cemetery are closed until further notice.

“Today was a sad day for Naval Air Station Pensacola and the local community with the events that unfolded on board the installation,” said commanding officer Kinsella. “We appreciate the support that we have received from across the country to include local, state and federal agencies. The quick actions by our naval security forces and local law enforcement prevented the situation from potentially being worse than it was.

“NAS Pensacola stands strong with our Navy family and our Pensacola community. Our hearts and prayers go out to all of the victims and their families.”

Navy leaders have opened an Emergency Family Assistance Center at the Navy Gateway Inns and Suites (Building 3249) until 9 p.m. Friday evening.

It will move to the Fleet and Family Service Center at 8 a.m. Saturday to provide counseling to witnesses, friends, relatives and base residents.

For more information, call 850-452-5000.

If you, a friend or a loved one is in crisis, please connect with a trained counselor now. Confidential, immediate help is available 24/7 at no cost to active duty, Guard and reserve members, their families and friends. Contact the Military Crisis Line at 800-273-8255, then press 1, or access online chat by texting 838255. Your life matters.

This is a breaking story. We will continue to update it only with official, corroborated sources.

Military Times Managing Editor Howard Altman, Marine Corps Times Editor Andrea Scott, Military Times Deputy Editor Leo Shane III and Air Force Times Senior Reporter Stephen Losey contributed to this article.