Facts about the Osprey

FACTS ABOUT THE MV-22 OSPREY:

* Built by Boeing Co and Textron Inc's Bell Helicopter

* called a tilt-rotor aircraft

* can take off vertically like a helicopter and land on the decks of ships but has has two propellers that allow it to fly like a plane

* during its testing phase between 1991 and 2000, there have been 30 fatalities, including that of 23 Marines during flight testing in 2000

* since becoming operational in 2007, there have been five crashes

* Dick Cheney reported trying to cancel the development of the aircraft four times as Secretary of Defence

* each unit costs an estimated $72 million

* was branded "a flying shame" by Time Magazine upon its launch due to concerns it was unsafe and could not shoot straight

RECENT INCIDENTS INVOLVING THE OSPREY:

JANUARY 2017 - three US soldiers are hurt in the "hard landing" of an Osprey in Yemen

DECEMBER 2016 - US grounds its Osprey fleet in Japan after one aircraft ditched in the sea, injuring its crew of five when a hose connected to the aircraft broke during a refuelling exercise

2015 - a US Osprey crashes during a training exercise in Hawaii, killing two marines.