The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps said on Wednesday that they were grounding their fleets of Ospreys after a preliminary investigation found that a problem with the aircraft may have caused a crash last week off Japan that is believed to have killed all eight airmen aboard.
In a statement, the Air Force cited “a potential materiel failure” in the crash, though it said the “underlying cause of the failure” remained unclear. The service said it had grounded its Ospreys to “provide time and space for a thorough investigation.” The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, which is responsible for the Marine Corps’ and Navy’s versions of the Osprey, said it had followed suit “out of an abundance of caution.
