The manufacturers of the military’s new tilt-rotor aircraft, the Osprey, apologized Friday for advertisements deemed offensive to Muslims that appeared in two magazines.

Boeing and Bell Helicopter apologized for the ad, which shows U.S. special operations forces rappelling from an Osprey onto the roof of a mosque.

The ad ran in the Armed Forces Journal a month ago, and in the National Journal last week.

“The CV-22 advertisement that appeared in the National Journal is clearly offensive and did not proceed through the normal channels within Boeing before production,” Boeing said in a statement on its Web site.

“We consider the ad offensive, regret its publication and apologize to those who like us are dismayed with its contents,” said Mary Foerster, Vice President of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Communications. “Unfortunately despite our best efforts to have the ad replaced, a clerical error at the National Journal resulted in its publication this week.”

Mike Cox, a Bell vice president, told The Seattle Times that “the [Bell] people who approved this didn’t have authority to approve it.”

The statements were released Friday in response to complaints from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based Islamic civil-liberties group. The building depicted in the ad has an Arabic sign that translates as “Muhammad Mosque,” according to the council.

Armed Forces Journal is a monthly magazine for officers and leaders in the United States military community. Similarly, National Journal is published for people who have a professional interest in politics, policy and government.

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