thedrifter
04-16-07, 07:16 AM
V-22 Osprey is called to combat duty in Iraq
Marine squadron of 10 tilt-rotor aircraft to report in September
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, April 14, 2007
By RICHARD WHITTLE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – The Marines will send a squadron of V-22 Osprey troop transports to Iraq in September, subjecting the long-awaited tilt-rotor aircraft to the acid test of combat operations.
"We think we can add a lot to the fight," said Lt. Col. Paul "Rocket" Rock, 40, the commander of the first Osprey squadron going to Iraq, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, or VMM-263.
The squadron of 10 Ospreys is to start flying from Asad air base west of Baghdad starting in September, carrying up to 24 troops at a time into combat and evacuating wounded. VMM-263 is to stay seven months and be replaced by another Osprey squadron.
Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, and Lt. Gen. John Castellaw, deputy commandant for aviation, announced the long-expected deployment decision at a Pentagon briefing Friday morning. The Marines then flew 20 reporters to Quantico for a ride in the V-22.
Lt. Gen. Castellaw said the Osprey, a helicopter-airplane hybrid that can fly twice as fast as the Vietnam-era CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters it is to replace, will be less vulnerable because of its speed.
The Marines have lost seven helicopters in Iraq, he said.
Wingtip rotors
The Osprey swivels two huge wingtip rotors upward to take off, hover or land like a helicopter and tilts them forward to fly like an airplane, cruising at about 275 mph in "airplane mode."
"If you've ever gone rabbit hunting, you know it's harder to shoot a rabbit that's running than one that's sitting still," he said.
Sending the Osprey to Iraq could finally settle a debate over the V-22 that has raged for two decades – and could greatly affect the future of Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. of Fort Worth.
Bell builds the Osprey in a 50-50 partnership with the helicopter division of Boeing Co., near Philadelphia. About 2,500 of Bell's employees work on the Osprey in Fort Worth and Amarillo.
The innovative aircraft has taken 24 years and about $22 billion to develop, causing extraordinary controversy because of the complexity and expense of its technology and four crashes that killed 30 people during development.
The Marines and Bell-Boeing have redesigned and retested the Osprey in the years since those crashes and say they have solved the problems that led to the accidents.
Some critics still argue that the Osprey is aerodynamically unsound. Others cite episodes of mechanical problems as evidence the V-22 is too fragile for combat use. Still others oppose the aircraft for its roughly $70 million price tag.
The Marines and the companies assert that the Osprey has proven itself in tests and is ready to do so in combat.
'Game-changer'?
Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the industry-backed Lexington Institute think tank, predicted the Osprey would prove it is a "game-changer" in Iraq.
"Now we get to see the technology in action and learn whether it really does make a difference," Mr. Thompson said.
Iraq's hot and sandy environment and attacks by insurgents using small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and shoulder-fired missiles make that country one of the most hazardous in the world for helicopters – especially in Anbar province, where the V-22 will primarily fly.
"The bad guy's out there," Col. Rock said. "I have no doubt they have interest in shooting down anything that flies. We're going to make it difficult for them."
If the Osprey does well in Iraq, its advocates expect tilt-rotor technology to revolutionize military and possibly even civil aviation.
If it does poorly or V-22s are lost to accidents, the future of the $54.6 billion program could be endangered again – a greater risk for Bell than for aerospace giant Boeing.
"This is about 110 percent of Bell's future at this point," said analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, a Washington-area aviation consulting firm. "For Boeing, it's gravy. For Bell, it's their last blood."
Ellie
Marine squadron of 10 tilt-rotor aircraft to report in September
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, April 14, 2007
By RICHARD WHITTLE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – The Marines will send a squadron of V-22 Osprey troop transports to Iraq in September, subjecting the long-awaited tilt-rotor aircraft to the acid test of combat operations.
"We think we can add a lot to the fight," said Lt. Col. Paul "Rocket" Rock, 40, the commander of the first Osprey squadron going to Iraq, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, or VMM-263.
The squadron of 10 Ospreys is to start flying from Asad air base west of Baghdad starting in September, carrying up to 24 troops at a time into combat and evacuating wounded. VMM-263 is to stay seven months and be replaced by another Osprey squadron.
Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, and Lt. Gen. John Castellaw, deputy commandant for aviation, announced the long-expected deployment decision at a Pentagon briefing Friday morning. The Marines then flew 20 reporters to Quantico for a ride in the V-22.
Lt. Gen. Castellaw said the Osprey, a helicopter-airplane hybrid that can fly twice as fast as the Vietnam-era CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters it is to replace, will be less vulnerable because of its speed.
The Marines have lost seven helicopters in Iraq, he said.
Wingtip rotors
The Osprey swivels two huge wingtip rotors upward to take off, hover or land like a helicopter and tilts them forward to fly like an airplane, cruising at about 275 mph in "airplane mode."
"If you've ever gone rabbit hunting, you know it's harder to shoot a rabbit that's running than one that's sitting still," he said.
Sending the Osprey to Iraq could finally settle a debate over the V-22 that has raged for two decades – and could greatly affect the future of Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. of Fort Worth.
Bell builds the Osprey in a 50-50 partnership with the helicopter division of Boeing Co., near Philadelphia. About 2,500 of Bell's employees work on the Osprey in Fort Worth and Amarillo.
The innovative aircraft has taken 24 years and about $22 billion to develop, causing extraordinary controversy because of the complexity and expense of its technology and four crashes that killed 30 people during development.
The Marines and Bell-Boeing have redesigned and retested the Osprey in the years since those crashes and say they have solved the problems that led to the accidents.
Some critics still argue that the Osprey is aerodynamically unsound. Others cite episodes of mechanical problems as evidence the V-22 is too fragile for combat use. Still others oppose the aircraft for its roughly $70 million price tag.
The Marines and the companies assert that the Osprey has proven itself in tests and is ready to do so in combat.
'Game-changer'?
Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the industry-backed Lexington Institute think tank, predicted the Osprey would prove it is a "game-changer" in Iraq.
"Now we get to see the technology in action and learn whether it really does make a difference," Mr. Thompson said.
Iraq's hot and sandy environment and attacks by insurgents using small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and shoulder-fired missiles make that country one of the most hazardous in the world for helicopters – especially in Anbar province, where the V-22 will primarily fly.
"The bad guy's out there," Col. Rock said. "I have no doubt they have interest in shooting down anything that flies. We're going to make it difficult for them."
If the Osprey does well in Iraq, its advocates expect tilt-rotor technology to revolutionize military and possibly even civil aviation.
If it does poorly or V-22s are lost to accidents, the future of the $54.6 billion program could be endangered again – a greater risk for Bell than for aerospace giant Boeing.
"This is about 110 percent of Bell's future at this point," said analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, a Washington-area aviation consulting firm. "For Boeing, it's gravy. For Bell, it's their last blood."
Ellie