Why wait rather than buy Osprey now

Should Britain acquire V-22 Ospreys now, especially for tanker use?

Probably not immediately: Merlin can continue for years, while a later replacement may offer a more mature and capable option than the current Osprey.

Merlin helicopters were expected to remain useful for another decade or more from the June 2020 discussion. Britain should begin studying their replacement or midlife upgrade, but that does not require buying V-22 Ospreys immediately. The Osprey is treated as a complicated first-generation tiltrotor at a time when newer designs were already moving through development. Waiting could prevent the fleet from being locked into an older system for another 20 or 30 years just before a more capable and easier-to-operate successor became available.