Any way you slice it, there will be excess mid-grade officers, because those are the ones who initially staff the FRS and test-eval (not developmental test, but operational test). That can be mitigated to an acceptable level by two things. One, MMOA has to pick officers to staff those things who are junior enough, and at points in their careers, they don't get hosed by boards if they stay in the FRS/OT side. Two, the plane has to progress in a timely fashion through OT.
The Osprey program was, and to some extent is, manned with a lot of guys who, in retrospect, were too senior. Add that to some program delays, and you see a lot of guys with weird career progression that isn't the best either for them or the Corps.
