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The U.S. Central Command said in a statement Sunday that another service member was injured in a "hard landing" in a nearby location. An MV-22 Osprey aircraft used in the raid was unable to fly afterward and "was then intentionally destroyed in place." "Americans are saddened this morning with news that a life of a heroic service member has been taken in our fight against the evil of radical Islamic terrorism," President Trump said in a statement. "The sacrifices made by the men and women of our armed forces, and the families they leave behind, are the backbone of the...

WASHINGTON – The United States plans to sell 17 V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor military transport aircraft, associated equipment, parts and logistical support to Japan for an estimated cost of $3 billion, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Tuesday. The agency said it delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale. The associated equipment requested by the Japanese government includes 40 engines and 40 infrared radars, according to the agency. Japan plans to assign 17 Ospreys to the Ground Self-Defense Force by fiscal 2018.

The US will fast-track delivery of six V-22 Osprey helicopter-plane aircraft to Israel, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Thursday in his address to the Anti-Defamation League's centennial conference in New York. NBC News reported that the Pentagon agreed to send Israel the next batch of Ospreys to come off the production line after Israel requested this week that the delivery of the aircraft be expedited amid threats from Iran and Syria. The next group of Ospreys had originally been slated for assignation to the US Marines, a Pentagon official told NBC. "Israel will get six V-22s out of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department is working out final details of $10 billion in sales of warplanes, transport aircraft and advanced missiles to Israel and two Arab nations amid concerns about the growing threat from Iran and its disputed nuclear weapons program, Pentagon and congressional officials said Friday. The U.S. has spent the past year negotiating with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on the deals, which come ahead of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's visit to the Middle East starting Sunday. The officials said the United States will sell to Israel an undisclosed number of KC-135 aerial...

WASHINGTON — The Marine helicopter squadron responsible for flying President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, cabinet members and other VIPs has a new aircraft: An MV-22 Osprey. HMX-1’s tilt-rotor aircraft is painted green and will be used in a support role, transporting the president’s staff and the media, Marine spokesman Capt. Richard Ulsh confirmed. Helicopters that transport the president are typically painted white on top and referred to as “white tops.” “The Osprey is a staple within our fleet. It has proven itself in the most difficult environments as a capable and reliable asset,” Ulsh said, noting that including...

'NY Times' reports deal to address Iranian, other regional threats; Israel to be 1st foreign military to receive V-22 Osprey. The US Department of Defense is nearing the finalization of a $10 billion arms deal with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, The New York Times reported Thursday. The arms sale is aimed at bolstering defenses against possible future Iranian threats, the report said. According to the Times, Israel would be permitted to purchase from American contractors the KC-135 refueling tanker planes, "anti-radiation" missiles that target air-defense radars, new advanced radars for jets and the V-22 Osprey aircraft....

Three US service personnel and one civilian were killed when a US Air Force Bell Boeing CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor crashed in southern Afghanistan’s Zabul Province on 8 April. “Numerous other service members” were also injured in the mishap, according to a statement from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. “The cause of the crash is unknown at this time,” it says. The incident, which happened near Qalat City, represents the first crash to have involved an operational version of the V-22, which is also used by the US Marine Corps in the MV configuration. The Osprey programme suffered three fatal...

Five years ago, in days after the Indian Ocean Tsunami, I wrote an op-ed for the Boston Globe–a piece that, with the Haiti disaster, remains a relevant cautionary tale today: The tsunami response, being hailed as one of the biggest U.S. military disaster relief missions in history, has been less effective than portrayed. (snip) With the Haiti earthquake, we’ll discover that a lot has changed in the space of five years. Today, in the aftermath of this earthquake, the initial response will be enormous. Unlike the Indonesian Tsunami, our initial aid may end up becoming a long-term commitment–lest we wish...

A nice video that I thought FReepers might enjoy  :-) YouTube - U.S. Marines Jump from Osprey Video description posted at YouTube:B-roll of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit conducting a parachute Drop at Fort Picket. Scenes include a helicopter flying overhead, Marines jumping from the aircraft and landing in a field below. Produced by 22nd MEU.

Chips are down, and so is V-22 By WILLIAM BENDER, wbender@delcotimes.com 02/10/2007 A computer chip problem has popped up in Boeing's V-22 Osprey. Months ahead of its scheduled deployment, the V-22 Osprey has been temporarily grounded due to a computer chip that couldn’t stand the cold. The problem was detected in the flight control computers of "some" Ospreys, according to a statement released Friday by Marine Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. As a result, all of the Marines’ MV-22s and Air Force’s CV-22s - less than 60 altogether -- have been grounded until the chips can be replaced. "Testing...

Column - Roger Williams: Time reporter wouldn't give conflicting source time of day Opinion Column Over the past several days, my office has received a barrage of phone calls and e-mail inquiries regarding Time magazine's Sept. 28 article on the V-22 Osprey. I certainly don't pretend to be a professional journalist, but I do feel it important to set forth a factual response for my fellow Amarilloans - people the world recognizes as having a major stake in the future of the Osprey. Time magazine reporter Mark Thompson chose to rely on select, outdated information which was both inaccurate and...

Bell Helicopter engineers have resolved a performance anomaly that test pilots had discovered when flying the hybrid aircraft in conventional flight mode, also known as the zero-degree position of the nacelles. The BA609 is a six- to nine-passenger corporate aviation tiltrotor, a product the companies expect to begin delivering in 2011. According to Roy Hopkins, Bell's chief test pilot for the BA609, both prototype aircraft had been exhibiting a differential torque between the two prop-rotors in flight tests, causing a left-turning tendency at cruise speeds. The companies are flight testing one aircraft at Bell in the USA and the other...

It's hard to imagine an American weapons program so fraught with problems that Dick Cheney would try repeatedly to cancel it — hard, that is, until you get to know the Osprey. As Defense Secretary under George H.W. Bush, Cheney tried four times to kill the Marine Corps's ungainly tilt-rotor aircraft. Four times he failed. Cheney found the arguments for the combat troop carrier unpersuasive and its problems irredeemable. "Given the risk we face from a military standpoint, given the areas where we think the priorities ought to be, the V-22 is not at the top of the list," he...

A Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey may soon be equipped with a gun within the cabin that can fire on targets at all angles relative to the aircraft's position. US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has disclosed that it is seeking a vendor to provide an "interim all-quadrant defensive weapon system" for its CV-22 tiltrotors. SOCOM would require flight testing to begin within 120 days of a contract award, according to a solicitation document posted on 14 September. The notice may be a signal that SOCOM believes it needs greater self-protection on the CV-22 than currently available on the aircraft. As an...

Mark Dodd | August 22, 2007 ADF may be first to buy 'tilt' chopper AUSTRALIAN special forces could be the first international customers for the revolutionary tilt rotor Osprey - a US-designed half-helicopter and half-plane. In its first operational deployment, 10 of the twin-engined V-22 Osprey will be sent to Iraq as troop and cargo carriers serving the US Marine Corp. Manufacturer Boeing claims a clean operational report card is likely to be followed by US government export approval and the Australian Defence Force is being eyed as a potential customer. The ADF today confirmed it is looking at buying...

FARNBOROUGH, England, July 18 — For its debut at the international air show, the V-22 Osprey danced in the sky. It flew straight up, then forward. It twirled and dove down. It flew sideways and even took a bow in midair. The performance on Monday was 20 years in the making, and Bell Helicopter and the Boeing Company — which jointly made the helicopter-airplane hybrid specifically for the United States Marine Corps — are hoping it will erase memories of the aircraft’s troubled history. The first squadron of V-22’s is scheduled to be deployed next fall and, at the moment,...

Marine Ospreys exploring long-range deployments June 17, 2006 Marines successfully completed two non-stop, coast-to-coast flights this week with a pair of MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, as a precursor to a transatlantic flight to England with the same Ospreys in July. The unconventional Osprey started life with some very bad publicity but now that the unconventional machine is working properly, it is beginning to offer an entirely new way of doing things, adding an important new tool to the Marine armoury. "Unlike conventional rotary wing aircraft, which must be transported into overseas theaters of operation aboard amphibious shipping or heavy lift...

WASHINGTON --The Pentagon on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to begin full-rate production of the V-22 Osprey, the hybrid helicopter-airplane that the Marine Corps considers vital to the future of its air fleet. The Osprey program has been threatened since 23 Marines died in a pair of crashes during testing in 2000. The go-ahead to start full-scale production was approved by the Defense Acquisition Board. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said before the official announcement that he anticipated that step. "Full-rate production clears the way for a more efficient and lower-cost delivery of this next-generation military aircraft, and would be great news...

Experimental chopper loses part of blade By Chris Lambie November 24, 2004 OSPREY: Experimental aircraft takes off like a helicopter, flies like an airplane. (File Photo) A cutting-edge U.S. military aircraft being tested in our skies made an emergency landing at Shearwater on Friday after losing a chunk of rotor blade. The tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey lost a 50-centimetre-long piece of rotor blade somewhere near the shoreline. “They were flying along the water when this occurred, not over a populated area,” said Kirsti Dunn, of Boeing Co., the U.S. aviation giant that built the aircraft with Bell Helicopters. About 20 kilometres...

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER - Flight crews are testing the V-22 Osprey – a tilt-rotor aircraft scheduled to replace Vietnam-era helicopters – in desert conditions that simulate duty in Iraq, officials said Wednesday. Four aircraft in a test squadron based in North Carolina traveled to Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas to test operations in austere conditions, according to a news release. "Over the next two weeks, our pilots will train and become competent in flying the Osprey in an austere environment, which is nothing but goodness," said Lt. Col. Christopher C. Seymour, the officer in charge...