As production of the V-22 Osprey winds down and flight restrictions begin to lift for some fleets following critical accidents, the Marine Corps is modernizing the aircraft and continuing to improve gearboxes and other critical components, an official said at Modern Day Marine this week.

The service has also nearly resolved all the recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office regarding V-22 safety concerns, joint office program manager Col. Robert Hurst said Wednesday.

In December, GAO found materiel failure of the airframe and engine components, coupled with human error, were to blame for the most serious incidents. Class A and B accidents in the Osprey program increased in fiscal years 2023 and 2024, and accidents between FY-22 and FY-24 resulted in the deaths of 20 servicemembers.

The final GAO recommendation will be resolved following a Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization event in May, Hurst said.

“I think it’s important to recognize, or at least acknowledge, that the comprehensive view and the GAO, while making the V-22 stronger, didn't necessarily change anything that we were already doing,” he added. “We've been managing risk in the V-22 -- it's not as well known -- since 2006, we've eliminated 29 catastrophic risks.”

Several improvements to Ospreys have been made, including an input quill redesign and the introduction of triple-melt steel gearboxes to reduce hard-clutch engagements.

Defense company Bell has delivered new gearboxes at a rate of 12 a month and will keep this pace through the rest of the retrofit, Hurst said. Over $39 million will fund gearbox procurement, according to the Pentagon’s budget reconciliation spending plan.