Rob,
I don't understand your point. The same could apply to any "lift"
vehicle. Helos, C-130s, C-17s, H-60s, you name it. The advances in
design, the increase in speed and range over conventional helos seem to
me to make the V-22 a large advance of helos. We've become so
conditioned to our "safe" world that we tend to forget that new
technology does take tme to mature and develop. Some have forgotten
that the F4, F-14 and in particular the Century series jets that many
of we aviation fans have come to know and love had their fair shre of
crashes and developmental disasters before the matured into useable
RELATIVELY safe systems.
Cancelling the V-22 and F-22 leaves us with, what? When the F-35
comes along will you want to cancel that as well? I want our Armed
forces to have the best. What can beat the F-22? Oh, wait, maybe we
should buy Su-30s! I don't think so.