thedrifter
06-13-06, 07:26 AM
Marines test two Ospreys at Miramar
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 13, 2006
Part airplane, part helicopter and all important for the Marine Corps, the MV-22 Osprey began undergoing tests yesterday at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
Two Ospreys, each costing $69.9 million, will be at the base through tomorrow. Their crews are practicing aerial refueling in preparation for flights next month to England for The Royal International Air Tattoo, the world's largest air show, and the Farnborough Air Show.
The Osprey is the military's first tilt-rotor production aircraft that can go from flying horizontal at 200 mph to landing vertically like a helicopter in 45 seconds. It can haul up to 24 people at a time.
For the Marine Corps, the Osprey is much more than a mechanical marvel. The 57-foot-long aircraft looms large in the Corps' aviation plans for the next decade or more.
“We think we are going to deploy (it) to combat next year,” said Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas, a Marine spokesman.
The Osprey might come into use starting in early 2007, when the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force – based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. – relieves some 25,000 Camp Pendleton-based troops serving in Iraq.
By 2017, the Marines hope to trade in their aging fleets of CH-46E Sea Knight and CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters for about 300 Ospreys at a cost of about $50 billion.
The Osprey travels more than twice as fast and as far as those assault helicopters but is much more quiet, said James Darcy, a government spokesman for the Osprey program. He said the plan is to replace those helicopters one-for-one with the Ospreys.
With eight squadrons of Sea Knights and Super Stallions, such an exchange would mean about 100 Ospreys coming to Miramar. Spokesmen at Miramar and the Marine Corps' headquarters said they did not know how soon the aircraft would begin operating in San Diego.
When the Pentagon approved production of the Osprey in September, it marked a remarkable turnaround for a program almost grounded by two deadly crashes in 2000. Investigations into those accidents showed that some Marine officers had falsified maintenance records for the Osprey.
The crashes killed 23 service members. That included 15 Marines from Camp Pendleton, who died April 8, 2000, when the Osprey they were testing went down near Marana, Ariz.
These are new days and the Corps said its latest Ospreys are vastly improved.
“The aircraft we are operating today is significantly different than the one flying in 2000 when the two crashes took place,” Darcy said.
“The program was re-engineered. This program has undergone the most extensive external review of any defense acquisition in history. We now have safety measures in place that are not in any plane in the inventory,” he said. “We also have a plane that is more resistant to enemy fire. From our testing, it is between two and eight times as survivable.”
Besides the Marines, the Navy plans to buy 48 Ospreys and the Air Force intends to acquire 50.
Military officials are negotiating with the Osprey's primary contractors, Boeing and Bell Helicopter, to drop the cost of the Osprey by signing a multiyear deal, Darcy said.
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
Ellie
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 13, 2006
Part airplane, part helicopter and all important for the Marine Corps, the MV-22 Osprey began undergoing tests yesterday at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
Two Ospreys, each costing $69.9 million, will be at the base through tomorrow. Their crews are practicing aerial refueling in preparation for flights next month to England for The Royal International Air Tattoo, the world's largest air show, and the Farnborough Air Show.
The Osprey is the military's first tilt-rotor production aircraft that can go from flying horizontal at 200 mph to landing vertically like a helicopter in 45 seconds. It can haul up to 24 people at a time.
For the Marine Corps, the Osprey is much more than a mechanical marvel. The 57-foot-long aircraft looms large in the Corps' aviation plans for the next decade or more.
“We think we are going to deploy (it) to combat next year,” said Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas, a Marine spokesman.
The Osprey might come into use starting in early 2007, when the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force – based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. – relieves some 25,000 Camp Pendleton-based troops serving in Iraq.
By 2017, the Marines hope to trade in their aging fleets of CH-46E Sea Knight and CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters for about 300 Ospreys at a cost of about $50 billion.
The Osprey travels more than twice as fast and as far as those assault helicopters but is much more quiet, said James Darcy, a government spokesman for the Osprey program. He said the plan is to replace those helicopters one-for-one with the Ospreys.
With eight squadrons of Sea Knights and Super Stallions, such an exchange would mean about 100 Ospreys coming to Miramar. Spokesmen at Miramar and the Marine Corps' headquarters said they did not know how soon the aircraft would begin operating in San Diego.
When the Pentagon approved production of the Osprey in September, it marked a remarkable turnaround for a program almost grounded by two deadly crashes in 2000. Investigations into those accidents showed that some Marine officers had falsified maintenance records for the Osprey.
The crashes killed 23 service members. That included 15 Marines from Camp Pendleton, who died April 8, 2000, when the Osprey they were testing went down near Marana, Ariz.
These are new days and the Corps said its latest Ospreys are vastly improved.
“The aircraft we are operating today is significantly different than the one flying in 2000 when the two crashes took place,” Darcy said.
“The program was re-engineered. This program has undergone the most extensive external review of any defense acquisition in history. We now have safety measures in place that are not in any plane in the inventory,” he said. “We also have a plane that is more resistant to enemy fire. From our testing, it is between two and eight times as survivable.”
Besides the Marines, the Navy plans to buy 48 Ospreys and the Air Force intends to acquire 50.
Military officials are negotiating with the Osprey's primary contractors, Boeing and Bell Helicopter, to drop the cost of the Osprey by signing a multiyear deal, Darcy said.
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
Ellie