U.S. Air Force grounds Ospreys over safety concern, including in Japan

The U.S. Air Force said Wednesday it has grounded its fleet of its Ospreys due to safety concerns, and the move will also affect the tilt-rotor aircraft stationed in Japan.The Air Force Special Operations Command directed a "safety standdown" of its CV-22 fleet on Tuesday due to "an increased number of safety incidents," the command's public affairs director Rebecca Heyse said in a statement.According to defense-focused U.S. media outlets, the safety issues are linked to a malfunctioning clutch inside a gearbox that impacts the transfer of drive from the engine to the propeller rotor.In the…READ FULL ARTICLE