A broken-down US Air Force special ops aircraft stuck in an Arctic nature preserve is finally out after a 'demanding' rescue

• A US Air Force special ops Osprey was rescued from a remote Arctic nature preserve on Tuesday.
• The broken-down aircraft made a "controlled emergency landing" in northern Norway last month.

A US Air Force CV-22 Osprey was finally rescued on Tuesday from a remote Arctic nature preserve, where the broken-down aircraft had been stuck since early August, Norway's military said.

Soldiers managed to "safely" transport the Osprey from northern Norway's Senja island onto an off-shore crane boat, where the aircraft will head to the nearest NATO port to be serviced, Norway's Armed Forces said.

The CV-22, which is a special-operations variant of the MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft, made a "controlled emergency landing" — due to a clutch malfunction — in the Stongodden nature preserve on August 12 and was stuck there for weeks. To recover the $90 million aircraft, which weighs over 33,000 pounds, Norwegian army engineers had to build a makeshift road to move the Osprey closer to the shore.

Engineers have spent the last few weeks constructing an improvised path by stacking wooden mats and beams next to each other so they could tow the Osprey — which had its fuel drained so it would be lighter — down to the water, where a crane boat could lift the aircraft on board.

Weather issues and rough seas delayed the lift a few times, but Norway's military noted that conditions on Tuesday were perfect for the rescue. It also said the "demanding work to retrieve the Osprey" was a collaboration between the Norwegian Armed Forces, the US military, and some civilians.

A Norwegian military spokesperson previously told Insider that local environmental protection officials were consulted when the rescue operation was planned.

"It has been both exciting and challenging," Norway's Armed Forces cited Odd Helge Wang, a military official who led work on the recovery site, as saying.

The clutch malfunction that forced the aircraft to make its emergency landing last month is among a few similar mechanical issues that ultimately triggered Air Force Special Operations Command to temporarily ground its Ospreys in August.