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thedrifter
02-01-08, 04:36 AM
Marines continue to rave about Osprey

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
Hybrid copter-airplane doing well in first wartime deployment, officials say

For years, critics attacked the Marine Corps' Osprey as an overpriced, unreliable and unsafe aircraft.

In its first four months of combat duty in Iraq, however, the service says its combination helicopter-airplane is meeting all of its expected goals and is starting to prove its detractors wrong.

"We are just scratching the surface on what the Osprey can do," said Maj. Eric Dent, a Marine Corps spokesman at the Pentagon. "When you examine all of its capabilities and what it will do in the future, we will show that it is a lot more than just another helicopter ---- it's a revolutionary aircraft."


Dent's comments this week came after the Marines reported that the first 10 V-22 Ospreys to be put into action have logged more than 2,000 hours over Iraq, flying more than 2,000 missions.

The Ospreys from the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 from the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing in North Carolina have taken part in five combat missions, one raid and maintained a "readiness rate," or ability to fly on a moment's notice, of 68 percent. That's comparable to other aircraft in Iraq, Dent said.

The Osprey also has been able to move 8,000 troops safely around Iraq and out of the reach of roadside bombs, the weapon responsible for a majority of deaths and injuries, the Marine Corps says.

Two Ospreys recently helped evacuate casualties to medical care 85 nautical miles away in less than an hour ---- a feat, Dent said, "no other platform could have accomplished."

"If I were a ground commander who needed to move a force, I would be very happy to know that I had an Osprey," Dent said in a telephone interview.

The Osprey takes off and lands like a helicopter, using a tilt-rotor system. Once in the air, it can fly at more than 400 mph, carrying up to 24 troops.

Its long and costly development, however, was punctuated by a series of accidents that took the lives of 27 Marines, including 14 from Camp Pendleton and four from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

Those accidents and other mishaps during testing ---- as well as the Osprey's $20 billion development cost, incidents involving stalled engines and software problems ---- made the aircraft intended to replace the Marine Corp's CH-46 Vietnam-era helicopters a ripe target for critics.

The lack of a forward-mounted gun is also seen as potential weakness in combat.

One of the Osprey's most vocal critics, Phil Coyle, who served as an assistant secretary of defense for testing and development at the Pentagon from 1994 to 2001, continues to challenge the viability of the Osprey.

"If they continue to use it pretty much as a truck hauling people around, they will be OK," Coyle said Tuesday. Coyle is now a senior adviser for the Center for Defense Information, a Washington group that monitors and analyzes defense policy. "As long as they don't get into situations requiring sudden maneuvers that have caused trouble in the past, they will keep being OK."

Dent said Coyle's criticism is becoming outdated as the Osprey performs more missions in Iraq, including flights involving combat situations.

"Critics have the easiest job in the world," he said. "They only have to be right once."

Dent maintained that the Osprey has been flown throughout Iraq without any significant problems.

"It is performing as we expected it would," he said. "It's doing the same missions all our other aircraft are called upon to do."

Top Marine Corps officers, as well as Army Gen. David Petraeus, the overall commander in Iraq, have praised the Osprey after flying in it in Iraq.

According to a Jan. 23 report filed on the Marine Corps Web site by a public affairs correspondent in Iraq, generals aren't the only ones pleased with the Osprey's performance.

"We haven't had to replace any major parts like prop boxes or anything," Cpl. Daniel Stratman, a mechanic, was quoted as saying. "The main problem out here is getting the parts for this aircraft. We can fix just about anything ---- the only thing that slows us down is getting the parts."

The "Thunder Chicken" Osprey squadron that has been flying in Iraq since October is scheduled to complete its assignment in April and will be replaced by another East Coast squadron, Dent said.

The Osprey will eventually fly in Afghanistan, Dent said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in January ordered 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan this spring to quell what military planners say is an expected uprising by the Taliban.

That assignment is the first large-scale presence of Marines in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S. invasion of that country.

It will be two more years before the first Osprey unit is established on the West Coast. Current planning calls for basing a squadron at Camp Pendleton or Miramar following an environmental impact assessment and as more of the aircraft are produced, Dent said.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

Ellie