Washington, Dec 7 (IANS): The US military said that it is grounding its entire fleet of V-22 Osprey aircraft, one week after an Air Force CV-22 crashed off the coast of Japan, killing eight US airmen onboard.
In a statement, US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) commander Tony Bauernfeind has directed an operational standdown to "mitigate risk while the investigation continues" into the crash incident.
On November 29, a CV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Yakushima, an island in southern Japan, killing all the eight crew members of AFSOC, Xinhua news agency reported.
"Preliminary investigation information indicates a potential material failure caused the mishap, but the underlying cause of the failure is unknown at this time," the statement said.