US Marines toast tilt-rotor aircraft's Iraq debut

[thedrifter]

US Marines toast tilt-rotor aircraft's Iraq debut <br />
Reuters, Friday May 2 2008 <br />
By Jim Wolf <br />
<br />
WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Textron Inc and Boeing Co's MV22 Osprey, the world's first operational...

[thedrifter]

Marines praise Fort Worth-built V-22 Osprey's performance in Iraq

10:42 PM CDT on Friday, May 2, 2008


By Brendan McKenna / The Dallas Morning News
bmckenna@dallasnews.com


WASHINGTON – The MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, built in Fort Worth and Amarillo, performed superbly in their first combat missions, the U.S. Marines, which flew the sometimes controversial craft in Iraq, said Friday.

Lt. Col. Paul Rock, the commander of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, who returned from Iraq last week, said he was proud of the hybrid helicopter-airplanes and those who flew them.

"We did the full spectrum of what the aircraft was meant to do," he said. "It was very satisfying to see how well it performed."

The Osprey is built by Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. in partnership with a Boeing Co. division near Philadelphia.

The Osprey's design, which allows it to fly quickly like a normal airplane then switch to helicopter mode to land, proved its worth on the two occasions it came under fire, Col. Rock said.

"One was small arms and one was a rocket," he said.

"In neither case did they come anywhere close to the aircraft."

"We were already moving so fast that you can't effectively employ a small-caliber machine gun at the kind of speeds we were moving," he said.

"Somebody's opportunity to engage us is very short."

The machines logged less than a third of the repair time required to keep Vietnam-era CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters in the air, said Lt. Gen. George Trautman III, the Marine Corps deputy commandant for aviation.

There were some technical problems during the deployment, such as the failure of electrical distribution systems for the sensors on a number of Ospreys in a short period.

But the Marines chalked that up to age and wear.

Iraq's dusty sands also did less damage to the rotors than occurred during training in Nevada


Gen. Trautman called the deployment a test but not "the final exam."

He said it validated the decision to buy roughly 30 more MV-22s each year until the Corps can phase out all of its Sea Knights.

Gen. Trautman said the Air Force Special Operations Command is "leaning forward" in plans to use a modified version of the Osprey, which may include the addition of a belly-mounted turret to give the aircraft a better field of fire.

Asked about the lack of a turret-mounted weapon on the Marine variant, Col. Rock quipped: "Never ask a Marine if he wants more guns on his airplane. More guns is good."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Osprey hybrid copter-plane passed Iraq test: US Marines

Fri May 2, 3:05 PM ET

The US military's long-gestating V-22 Osprey, built to fly both like a helicopter and an airplane, performed well in Iraq its first official field deployment, the Marine Corps announced Friday.

"I am proud of the aircraft performance. It is very satisfying to see how well it performed," Lieutenant Colonel Paul Rock, commanding officer of the first squadron of Ospreys deployed in Iraq, said in a Pentagon press conference.

Rock said the Marine squadron of Ospreys, deployed in Al-Assad, al-Anbar province, undertook 2,500 transport and evacuation missions over the seven month deployment between September 2007 and April 2008.

The hybrid transport, which can take-off and land vertically like a helicopter, then tilt horizontally its two wingtip turboprop rotors to propel it as a long-distance airplane, was developed with the aim of replacing the marines' Vietnam War-era Ch-46 transport helicopters.

But its development, dating back to 1981, was marred by delays, cost overruns and then safety concerns for its revolutionary technology.

The worries were heightened by two in-flight accidents in 2000 that killed more than 20 soldiers.

The V-22 Osprey is produced by Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing, and 59 are now in operation, 30 with the marines.

It can carry 24 soldiers into the field, its tilt-rotor engines allowing it to land where there is little room but also carrying it to high altitudes where it is safe from ground attack.

Other than Iraq, the V-22s, which cost 70 million dollars a piece, would be useful in the US fight in Afghanistan, said Lieutenant General George Trautman, vice-commandant for marine aviation.

"It would be a very effective airplane in that environment," Trautman said.

Ellie