thedrifter
03-06-08, 08:21 AM
Osprey cruising local skies
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
Squadron of Marine Corps' newest aircraft here for training exercise
MIRAMAR MARINE CORPS AIR STATION -- A squadron of the Marine Corps' newest aircraft, the MV-22 Osprey, has arrived here to test its wings over the region's mountainous terrain during the next two weeks.
Ten of the oft-maligned hybrid aircraft are now in Iraq, wrapping up the Osprey's first-ever deployment. The aircraft takes off and lands like a helicopter, but flies like an airplane at cruising speeds of more than 300 miles per hour.
The 10 Ospreys that arrived at Miramar on Wednesday are here through March 20 and come from the North Carolina-based Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 266.
One reason for the visit is to familiarize the I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing with the Osprey's capabilities, said Maj. Jason Johnston, a public affairs spokesman at Miramar.
"This area offers terrain like that in Iraq, and the Osprey here will be integrated in exercises with other aircraft, such as Cobra helicopters and F-18s," Johnston said Wednesday.
The Osprey has been attacked by its critics as overpriced, unreliable and unsafe, but the Marine Corps has raved about its performance in Iraq.
In its first four months of combat duty, the service said the Osprey was meeting all of its expected goals and proving its detractors wrong.
Through the end of January, the 10 Osprey with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing in Iraq had logged more than 2,000 hours and more than 2,000 missions.
The aircraft -- which can carry up to 24 troops at a time -- had moved more than 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.
The Osprey's development, however, included 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 others involving stalled engines and software problems made the aircraft, intended to replace the Marine Corps' CH-46 Vietnam-era helicopters, a ripe target for critics.
Last month, Marine Corps Commandant James Conway told the North County Times that the first Osprey unit to be located on the West Coast would be assigned to Miramar sometime in 2010.
The Osprey's schedule for replacing the workhorse CH-46 helicopters calls for production of enough aircraft to replace two of the older aircraft squadrons each year. Through the end of February, 50 Ospreys have been delivered to the Marine Corps, according to testimony presented to the House Armed Services Committee last week.
-- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
Squadron of Marine Corps' newest aircraft here for training exercise
MIRAMAR MARINE CORPS AIR STATION -- A squadron of the Marine Corps' newest aircraft, the MV-22 Osprey, has arrived here to test its wings over the region's mountainous terrain during the next two weeks.
Ten of the oft-maligned hybrid aircraft are now in Iraq, wrapping up the Osprey's first-ever deployment. The aircraft takes off and lands like a helicopter, but flies like an airplane at cruising speeds of more than 300 miles per hour.
The 10 Ospreys that arrived at Miramar on Wednesday are here through March 20 and come from the North Carolina-based Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 266.
One reason for the visit is to familiarize the I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing with the Osprey's capabilities, said Maj. Jason Johnston, a public affairs spokesman at Miramar.
"This area offers terrain like that in Iraq, and the Osprey here will be integrated in exercises with other aircraft, such as Cobra helicopters and F-18s," Johnston said Wednesday.
The Osprey has been attacked by its critics as overpriced, unreliable and unsafe, but the Marine Corps has raved about its performance in Iraq.
In its first four months of combat duty, the service said the Osprey was meeting all of its expected goals and proving its detractors wrong.
Through the end of January, the 10 Osprey with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing in Iraq had logged more than 2,000 hours and more than 2,000 missions.
The aircraft -- which can carry up to 24 troops at a time -- had moved more than 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.
The Osprey's development, however, included 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 others involving stalled engines and software problems made the aircraft, intended to replace the Marine Corps' CH-46 Vietnam-era helicopters, a ripe target for critics.
Last month, Marine Corps Commandant James Conway told the North County Times that the first Osprey unit to be located on the West Coast would be assigned to Miramar sometime in 2010.
The Osprey's schedule for replacing the workhorse CH-46 helicopters calls for production of enough aircraft to replace two of the older aircraft squadrons each year. Through the end of February, 50 Ospreys have been delivered to the Marine Corps, according to testimony presented to the House Armed Services Committee last week.
-- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie