Posted on 05/07/2009 4:44:34 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2009 – After three successful combat deployments over more than 19 consecutive months, Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys will begin a global deployment with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, a senior Marine aviation official said yesterday.
“The Marine Corps views these first three deployments of the Osprey into combat as marvelously successful,” Lt. Gen. George J. Trautman III, deputy commandant of aviation, said during a “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable. “The aircraft completed every assigned mission, and it did so flying faster, farther, and with safer flight profiles than any other assault support aircraft in the history of military operations.”
While in Iraq, the Osprey flew thousands of missions, impressing those who flew in it with its speed and range, Trautman said.
“The way the Osprey collapsed the battle space in al Anbar -- in fact, indeed throughout all of Iraq -- is really something that amazed those who saw it perform,” he said. “The aircraft has tremendous range, and [impressive] speed with which it moves around the operational area.”
For example, Trautman said one of his commanders told him that when the Osprey arrived in Iraq, it turned his battle space from the size of Texas into the size of Rhode Island.
The Osprey’s speed and range, Trautman said, means a lot more support for Marines on the ground.
“Marine aviation exists to support the warfighter -- the Marine on the ground, the soldier in distress -- and the Osprey offers the warfighter a tremendous advantage over the enemy, and it also offers an incredible increase in capability for our commanders.”
While the MV-22 is being deployed only with the 22nd MEU right now, Trautman said every MEU will have an Osprey squadron in the future.
“As the transition from our legacy CH-46s to MV-22s continues, every subsequent MEU from the East Coast is going to deploy … Ospreys, and this will have a very important effect on those combatant commanders that we support,” he said.
Though the Osprey has faced some challenges and there is still much to learn from the deployments to Iraq, Trautman said, plans call for sending one squadron to Afghanistan later this year.
“We understand that Afghanistan is a harsh environment, especially a harsh environment on aircraft,” he said. “But we’re incredibly confident that having the Osprey in that environment is going to pay dividends for our forces.”
Trautman added that several different weapons and weapons systems have been mounted to the Osprey, and that officials are discussing other options.
“We’re going to increase the capability of the ramp-mounted weapon system to take up to a .5- caliber machine gun for heavier firepower should we need it,” he said. Also, the Air Force Special Operations Command has developed a smaller-caliber weapon that can provide 360-degree quadrant coverage, the general added.
(Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class William Selby serves in the Defense Media Activity’s emerging media directorate.)
I cannot understand how this program survived as it did. I had hoped it would, but with the initial problems, I am simply amazed that it did. Kudos to those who supported it.
Now, as for the F22... we need to save that program, and that’s all there is to it.
Might turn out to be a game-changing aircraft if the teething problems are really solved. Glad to see it. Other than stealth and avionics, aviation technology has been pretty stagnant for a couple of decades.
ping
The F-22 is certainly as in a USN fighter / interceptor to finally have a true replacement for the F-14. The F-18F is great but is not a true replacement for the 14s.
Now finding a way to keep the F-35 out of any and all serious CAS roles is another big fight all boots on the ground want fought out. Long live the A-10 and AC-130s.
It survived only because of the determination of the Marine Corps.
The F-22 is not a replacement for the F-14.
I agree. I do think it’s time for a new awakening though.
We disparately need a space plane, for lack of a better term. I would like to see the government back an industry panel that could devise the requirements (earth to space with payload and rapid turn around), that would also administer a $15 billion dollar prize for the corporation or even private group that accomplished the task.
It wouldn’t necessarily have to be an SSTO, but that would be the ultimate goal. I might even add $10 billion if that could be achieved.
I would probably back a few other short term building block type projects, with prizes to be handed out under the same terms.
The goal would be to inhabit space in a real way within ten years.
I don’t have a problem with the F35 in it’s intended roles. I do have a very big problem relying on them to be the be/all end/all of our Air Force or Navy needs.
The F22 is another animal altogether, and it’s going to be needed very badly in five to fifteen years.
Then my hat is off to them.
...again!
I agree. They are doing the same thing with the MRAP
The Marines are the greatest tinkerers in the world's armed forces. .
As always, adaptation is their middle name.
The F-22 will never be a Navy fighter.
It cannot be adapted or “navalised” without significant changes. Practically an entirely new airplane.
It would need to go through some re-engineering to beef it up for carrier duty, but with all that's been learned with the F-22 and F-35, it would have a significant development advantage. It's a shame to let that level of tech waste away in the boneyard.
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