{"id":32746,"date":"2024-01-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/01\/05\/how-the-osprey-grounding-affected-a-marine-unit-in-the-indo-pacific\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T21:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T21:12:09","slug":"how-the-osprey-grounding-affected-a-marine-unit-in-the-indo-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2024\/01\/05\/how-the-osprey-grounding-affected-a-marine-unit-in-the-indo-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Osprey grounding affected a Marine unit in the Indo-Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a volcano erupted on Bougainville Island in August, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit was tasked with delivering disaster relief supplies across that autonomous region of Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marines and sailors spent 10 days delivering nearly 70,000 pounds of supplies to remote airfields, helped along by the helicopter-airplane hybrid known as the MV-22B Osprey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while the Osprey has proven vital to the 31st MEU\u2019s mission there and elsewhere, all services lost the asset in December 2023 when the entire fleet was grounded following a Nov. 29, 2023, crash that killed eight airmen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the grounding that cost the unit its 11 Ospreys continues, command officials say they are making do without those assets, even if their loss has cost the Marines some mission endurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBetween the other assault-support aircraft and surface connectors, I can still move the same number of things and people,\u201d the unit\u2019s commanding officer, Col. Matthew Danner, told reporters on Thursday. \u201cWhat it really goes to is if I had to do that over the course of five days in a row, I would struggle to do that in ways that I wouldn\u2019t if I had these 11 Ospreys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danner\u2019s comments reveal the practical implications for Marine expeditionary units losing their Osprey access during the latest grounding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The November 2023 fatal mishap is not the first time that problems have emerged with the aircraft. The Osprey, which can take off and land vertically like a helicopter and fly horizontally like a plane, has been the subject of safety concerns<\/a> for years<\/a> because of a series of deadly crashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\t