Why Crashed Osprey Did Not Have Nuclear Material Onboard!

A US Marine Osprey aircraft crashed in the California desert, with “early reports” of nuclear material onboard.

Find out what happened, and why there could not have been nuclear materials onboard!

Updated @ 2022-06-10 : Added confirmation of casualties from the crash.
Originally posted @ 2022-06-09

 

US Marine Osprey Crashed, No Nuclear Material Onboard!

An MV-22B Osprey aircraft belonging to the US Marine crashed in the California desert on 8 June 2022, and “early reports” that it carried nuclear material sparked fear.

The crash was announced and then confirmed by Naval Air Facility El Centro :

EMERGENCY ALERT! #NAFEC has just received reports of a downed aircraft in the vicinity of Coachella Canal Road and the 78. Installation Federal Fire, and Imperial County Fire Department are responding.

We can confirm that an aircraft belonging to 3d Marine Aircraft Wing crashed near Glamis, CA. Military and civilian first responders are on site.

The Osprey belonging to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing headquartered in Miramar, San Diego, was flying with a Marine unit of five onboard.

It crashed at around 12:25 PM local time in Imperial County, near Highway 78 and the town of Glamis. That’s about 50 km from the Mexican border, and 240 km east of San Diego.

On June 9, 2022, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar announced that all five Marines onboard the MV-22B Osprey were confirmed dead.

Press Release: 5 Marines dead in MV-22B mishap

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. – (June 9. 2022) Five Marines with Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW), have been confirmed deceased following an aviation mishap involving an MV-22B Osprey during a training mission near Glams, CA on the afternoon of June 8. 2022.

Maj. Gen. Bradford J. Gering, commanding general of 3rd MAW issued the following statement, “We mourn the loss of our Marines in this tragic mishap. Our hearts go out to their families and friends as they cope with this tragedy.

As a matter of policy, identities of deceased service members are not released until 24-hours after all next-of-kin notifications have been completed.

Equipment recovery efforts have begun and an investigation is underway.

While military service is inherently dangerous, the loss of life is always difficult. 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing is committed to providing support to the families, friends, and fellow service members of the fallen Marines.

While the US Marines has not announced the names of the five dead, family and friends confirmed that 21 year-old Nathan Carlson from Illinois was one of them.

 

Why Crashed Osprey Would Not Have Nuclear Material Onboard…

It is unknown who started the rumours that the Osprey had nuclear materials onboard, but even content aggregator / fake news websites like Vancouver Times jumped on the bandwagon, claiming “Military aircraft believed to be carrying nuclear material crashes in California, multiple people killed“.

Naval Air Facility El Centro refuted the rumours of nuclear materials on the Osprey, stating :

Contrary to initial reports, there was no nuclear material on board the aircraft. More information will be made available as we receive it.

The Boeing MV-22B Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that can land or take off as a helicopter, and “transform” into a turboprop aircraft once it’s airborne.

The US Marines use the Osprey used primarily to carry troops and supplies, as well as for medevac and rescue missions.

There is no Osprey mission tasking that would involve the transport of nuclear materials, or the use of nuclear weapons. In fact, there is no history of any Osprey in service ever doing so.

The US Marines do not have nuclear weapons in its inventory, and the Osprey has a history of reliability issues resulting in multiple crashes and 46 deaths :

  • July 1992 : Pre-production Osprey crashed after its right engine failed. All seven people onboard died.
  • April 2000 : An Osprey crashed in Arizona, killing all 19 people onboard.
  • December 2000 : An Osprey crashed in North Carolina, killing all four people onboard.
  • April 2010 : An Osprey crashed in Afghanistan, killing four people and injuring 16.
  • April 2012 : An Osprey crashed in Morocco, killing two people and seriously injuring two more.
  • June 2012 : An Osprey crashed in Florida, injuring all five onboard.
  • May 2015 : An Osprey crashed in Hawaii, kill two people and injuring 20 others.
  • December 2016 : An Osprey crashed in Okinawa, injuring two crew members.
  • August 2017 : An Osprey crashed in Australia, killing three people with 23 survivors.
  • March 2022 : An Osprey crashed in Norway, killing all four crew members.

It would not have been safe or prudent to transport nuclear materials using the Osprey, particularly on the continental United States, where there are other safer options.

 

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

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