Australian Defence Force: members allowed to board V-22 Osprey, Department of Defence confirms

After months of speculation, the Department of Defence has confirmed Australian soldiers can board the controversial aircraft. Overseas, a worldwide flight restriction has been locked in.

There are no restrictions on ADF members from boarding the V-22 Osprey.

Darwin’s Diggers will be allowed to climb aboard the US V-22 Osprey aircraft, despite the controversial tiltrotor being placed on a worldwide flight restriction.

The news comes as Darwin’s 1st Brigade ramp up training activities alongside their US Marine counterparts across the Top End.

The Department of Defence told the NT News there were no restrictions on the carriage of Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel in US aircraft.

Marine Rotation Force – Darwin (MRF-D) also confirmed there were no restrictions stopping their Australian counterparts from boarding their airframes.

The confirmation comes after months of speculation, after a fleet of V-22 Ospreys arrived in the Top End in May this year.

At that time, the department declined to confirm whether or not ADF members would be permitted to board the aircraft.

However, within hours of confirming ADF members could board the aircraft, Commander of US Naval Air Systems Command Vice Admiral Carl Chebi announced flight restrictions had been placed upon the Osprey.

But despite the restriction, Ospreys won’t be grounded in Australia as long as strict guidelines are met.

Vice Admiral Chebi had on Thursday (Australian time) been a witness at a Washington DC hearing in which the controversial aircraft’s extensive history of deadly crashes is being examined.

The US V-22 Osprey is allowed to fly in Darwin.

Vice Admiral Carl Chebi said he expected unrestricted flight operations would most likely “not occur before mid-2025”.

“I will not certify the V-22 to return to unrestricted flight operations until I am satisfied we have sufficiently addressed the issues that may affect the safety of the aircraft,” he said.

“Based on the data that I have today, I am expecting that this will not occur before mid-2025.”

Since the V-22 Osprey program started, 64 services members have been killed.

Those fatalities include the deadly crash at the Tiwi Islands in August 2023, in which three Marines were killed.

On August 27, 2023, Captain Eleanor LeBeau, Major Tobin Lewis and Corporal Spencer Collart were killed after their MV-22 Osprey went down on the first day of Exercise Predators Run.

US media outlet Defense One reported the family members of US Marine Corporal Spencer Collard, who died in the Tiwi Islands crash, attended the hearing this week.

Corporal Spencer Collard’s mother, Alexia, said she was concerned the aircraft remained operational.

“They clearly don’t have answers still on the cause of the mishaps and why the hard clutch engagement is happening, and they don’t have a fix for it,” she told Defence One.

“So, in my mind, if you can’t fix it, you shouldn’t be flying it.”