WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office in Amarillo, Texas, was awarded a $267 million modification contract for additional joint performance-based logistics support for the Marine Corps MV-22, and the Air Force and Special Operations Command CV-22 aircraft, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The $36 billion V-22 program faces growing controversy over repeated complaints by US service members that the hybrid aircraft’s design is flawed and unsuitable for combat.
The embattled V-22 has had at least seven hull-loss accidents resulting in at least 36 fatalities. Thirty fatalities occurred during testing between 1991 and 2000, and at least other fatalities occurred in combat after the craft became operational in 2007.
