The United States has been pinning its hopes on success in the field of tiltrotors, because tiltrotors combine the high speed of fixed-wing aircraft with the best vertical take-off and landing characteristics. However, the United States faces many difficulties in the development and use of tiltrotors, and safety issues are also worried. The V-22 Osprey tiltrotor currently in service has had a number of serious safety incidents in the past period, including a crash in Japan. This has attracted international attention, especially the disappointment shown by the US Congress with the tiltrotor and may influence future decisions on the number of V-280 tiltrotor purchases.
The crash of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor in Japan led the United States to send a salvage vessel to deploy and plan to salvage the wreckage. Although the salvage operation has not yet been completed, the US Congress has expressed extreme concerns about the safety of the tiltrotor. Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, has not only raised concerns about the safety of the tiltrotor, but also warned of potential safety issues with the new V-280 tiltrotor. He raised doubts about the design of the aircraft with a high mortality rate and questioned whether the United States should continue to invest.
Although the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor is currently in service with the U.S. military in combat sequences, it has fallen short of expectations in terms of mission preparation, procurement costs, and cost per flight. The V-280 tiltrotor is much higher than the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, and according to empirical analysis, the subsequent use cost of the V-280 tiltrotor may rise. Military analyst Sanders believes that the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor will hardly shake the U.S. plans to purchase the V-280 tiltrotor in the future unless a fundamental flaw in the design of all tiltrotors is found.
Currently, the U.S. Army is working hard to make room for the V-280 tiltrotor to give way to the UH-60 Black Hawk***. However, the reliability of the V-280 tiltrotor is still an unknown. In contrast, China has massively equipped the Z-20 General Motors*** with a similar to the American UH-60 Black Hawk***. China has adopted a solid strategy to continue to produce the Z-20 GM ***, demonstrating solid strength.