If only they had a Ma Deuce for a ramp gun. The MV-22 is armed with the M240D.
Photo by: Lance Cpl. Samuel D. White
Photo ID: 2006822115214
Submitting Unit: MCAS New River
Photo Date:08/22/2006
Posted on 09/21/2007 8:36:34 AM PDT by Yo-Yo
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 interim measure, the US Marine Corps has installed a .50-calibre gun on the tail ramp of its MV-22 fleet, which is now making its combat debut in Iraq.
"Anything that the services want to pursue to get them to a weapon system that works for their needs we want to support," says Naval Air Systems Command.
But proposals for an all-quadrant gun have been shelved for several years due to a lack of funds. The V-22 programme office is seeking to obtain $82 million in supplemental defence spending for fiscal year 2008 to launch development of such a weapon, but the SOCOM initiative would move even faster.
Previous studies on installing an internal gun have focused on the aircraft's nose, but SOCOM's solicitation would require placing the weapon inside the cabin. The most obvious location would be in the so-called "hell-hole" in the cabin floor.
Both the USMC and SOCOM are considering a range of weapon types, from a 7.62mm minigun to a .50-calibre machine gun to a grenade launcher.
They have to specify the paradigm -- compression, tension, shear, puncture. Carbon fibre is always brittle, period, and repairs are difficult or impossible. Check out what happens to a $5,000 carbon racing bike frame when a small crack appears.
If only they had a Ma Deuce for a ramp gun. The MV-22 is armed with the M240D.
Incorrect. Roll on landings and takeoffs are frequently flown in the Osprey with the nacelles tilted at ~45 degrees.
My concern is that carbon fiber rotors designed to sheer off in a horizontal landing are vulnerable to being shattered by small arms fire.
Your concerns are unfounded as the proprotors; they are a hybrid prop and rotor not simply a rotor, aren't designed to sheer off. They are designed to broom strand when they come in contact with terra firma.
Have the Marines touted the rotors as being bullet proof or to even being tested for their survivability against small arms fire?
Absolutely. Ballistics testing of the aircraft, the most extensive in history for any rotary winged platform, confirms that the Osprey is much more tolerant to damage and much more survivable when it incurs damage than either the CH-46E or the CH-53D.
If no such tests are public, then you can write off the rotors as vulnerable.
The problem for you is that the results are public.
That's very good to learn. Thanks.
But then look at the Ferrari Enzo that the “comedian” Eddie Griffin wrecked at a celebrity event.
He plowed it right into a concrete barrier and the entire front end came 5 feet off the ground. A normal chassis would have compacted, but the Enzo’s carbon fiber chassis, while totaled, remained intact.
Carbon fiber doesn’t have to be brittle.
But, as you said, it is practically impossible to repair correctly.
Agreed. One time I was on a bird trying to find an improvised LZ, circling around at about 500 feet. NVA waited until they were directly underneath to open up. Great fun having AK rounds coming up through the deck, and not being able to train the gun down enough to do anything about it.
A solution to the problem of suppressing fire in the downward cone is sorely needed. The muzzies are as smart as the NVA were.
It would be interesting to see what components actually absorbed the energy in the Griffin crash.
ah, the good old warthog 30mm gatling.
Yep; that’s her. Effective and reliable.
Not at all. They proved in WWI that you can shoot right through your prop arc with no ill effects. Well, just the loud noise. As the aircraft augered into the hillside...
If you haven’t seen the video, look on U-Tube.
It’s a race car chassis, so every bit went into the chassis from the look of it.
You can only shoot through props when there’s a timing chain.
When you have an un-linked machine gun, those props won’t stand a chance. And the props, in full forward, will present a relatively acute angle for any side-mounted machine gun.
And, it ain’t just the rotorprops.
There’s the HUGE engine nacelles right there.
No way to shoot around those when the V-22 is on the ground or in a hover, as the rear sections will obstruct a good chunk of the side views.
Yeh - it was a joke. You are entirely correct about the nacelles as well.
I got the joke part just after I completed my self-important post.
Sorry about that.
FR can get a little too serious sometimes.
That’s a scary machine, especially if you are right underneath it. Because that’s a dangerous place, considering gravity being the way it is.
You're still absolutely right...
Field of fire out of the cabin door isn't as limited as one would think. Get a copy of the latest issue of Combat Aircraft magazine and take a look at the photos taken by Rick Linares in the article "Send in the Ospreys!".
Not too much room for a pair of door gunners and 24 fully equipped Marines. However, there might be plenty of room in the CV-22, depending on mission.
Thanks.
That puts it into perspective.
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