Senate demands Navy, USMC report on aviation mishaps
Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee are demanding that the Navy and Marine Corps send them a report that explains the many aviation accidents that have taken place this year, and what they’re going to do about it.
The committee released its FY 2023 spending bill this week, along with an explanatory statement that said the Senate wants to know more about how Navy and Marine Corps leaders are handling the problem.
“The Committee is concerned by several Navy and Marine Corps aviation mishaps that have occurred in the current calendar year, some of which have resulted in the tragic loss of life of sailors and Marines,” the statement said.
“The Committee directs that the Chief of Naval Operations and the Commandant of the Marine Corps brief their findings of the accident review boards on the various mishaps to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than 180 days after the enactment of this act,” it said. “The Committee encourages service leadership to focus on finding common causes that apply to both the Navy and Marine Corps aviation units and their missions.”
Senators also encouraged the Navy and Marine Corps to conduct a more detailed analysis to “provide greater insight into potentially larger challenges,” such as the need for more training or improved maintenance processes.
They added, “the Committee remains concerned with the overall health of our forces and with our aviation community in particular.”
The Senate language is the result of a string of crashes that plagued the Navy and Marines over the summer, including the loss of an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter, an MV-22B Osprey and an F/A-18E Super Hornet. Those crashes followed the crash of another MV-22 Osprey in March, an a lost F-35 in the South China Sea in January.
The Senate Appropriations Committee request comes on the heels of a request from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee for the Navy to stop its efforts to eliminate extremism from the ranks. That committee said extremism happens too infrequently to warrant a “Department-wide effort.”
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