An MV-22 Osprey with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161 (VMM-161) flies during a U.S. Personnel Recovery Coordination Center (PRCC) validation exercise at Grand Bara, Djibouti, Oct. 31, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Dwane R. Young)
On August 27, a United States military aircraft crashed on a north Australian island during a multinational exercise, killing three Marines and wounding 20 others.
The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey was carrying 23 service members when it went down at about 9:30 a.m. [local time] near the Tiwi Islands, officials with the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin said in a statement.
Five of the wounded service members were taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital in serious condition, according to the statement.
The Osprey had been transporting troops as part of a “routine training exercise” in support of Exercise Predators Run, a joint military exercise, officials said, adding that recovery efforts were ongoing.
The annual Predator Run military exercises involves forces from Australia, the U.S., East Timor, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the crash a “tragic” incident and assured that Australian troops were not involved.
“Our focus as a government and as a department of defense is very much on incident response and on making sure that every support and assistance is given at this difficult time,” he said.
Ospreys are tilt-rotor aircraft that combine the features of both helicopters and turboprop planes. The aircraft has two swiveling engines positioned on fixed wingtips that allow it to land and take off vertically, but also move at faster speeds than a conventional helicopter.
The Osprey’s complex design came into question after a series of fatal incidents. In June last year, five Marines were killed when an Osprey crashed in the California desert near the Arizona border. Later in March of the same year, an Osprey crashed near a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle during a NATO exercise, killing four Marines.
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