View Full Version : Special Ops Osprey Squadron Certified "initial operation capable"
Magnolia
03-19-2009, 19:56
Didn't see this posted anywhere and would be very interested in hearing the initial impressions of those in the SF community regarding the projected deployment of the CV-22 to Afghanistan later this year.
Special Ops Osprey Squadron Ready for Action
By Nathan Hodge l March 16, 2009 | 1:02:42 PM
The CV-22, the special operations version of the controversial Osprey tiltrotor, is now ready to take on combat missions for the first time.
Capt. Laura Ropelis, an Air Force Special Operations Command spokeswoman, confirmed to DANGER ROOM that the first CV-22 squadron was certified "initial operation capable" as of this month. Translated into plain English, that means the CV-22 can now be employed effectively as a weapons system (and that "full" capability may be declared further down the road).
It's a milestone that's been almost thirty years in the making. The requirements for the CV-22 emerged in part from the lessons of Operation Eagle Claw, the failed attempt to rescue hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The CV-22 is customized for commando missions (long-range infiltration, extraction and resupply) and can fly much farther and faster than any helicopter. In theory, an Osprey-type aircraft would have allowed planners to attempt the mission in one pass, rather than orchestrating the complex landing-and-refueling mission that led to the debacle at Desert One.
The special operations community has already put the new machines through their paces in exercises. The aircraft also took part in a real-world operation, assisting the Coast Guard last year in a freighter rescue during Hurricane Ike; Ospreys of Air Force Special Operations Command also took part in Flintlock 2008, a joint military exercise in West Africa last November.
Incidentally, the Marine Corps version of the bird, the MV-22, has already seen service in Iraq; the Marines are now weighing whether to send the aircraft to Afghanistan later this year.
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/03/spec-ops-osprey.html
Alterflow
03-19-2009, 20:12
Well they used it in transformers to fight the decepticons, what more do you need?
Ambush Master
03-19-2009, 20:33
Well they used it in transformers to fight the decepticons, what more do you need?
SPORT,
I hope that you are truly aware, that you are not launching into a "Video-Gameroom" World!! At this point in your life/career, you had best be focusing on the 25m Target and be leaving the wisecracks to others!!
Good Luck!!
Martin
SPORT,
I hope that you are truly aware, that you are not launching into a "Video-Gameroom" World!! At this point in your life/career, you had best be focusing on the 25m Target and be leaving the wisecracks to others!!
Good Luck!!
Martin
Martin, He has obviously passed the team room banter and sarcastic comment block of instruction....should fit in well on a team (in teamroom) may not be deployable, just like the CV-22.;)
Alterflow
03-19-2009, 20:49
I was unaware that kidding was not allowed on these boards. I would hope that we can all assume I know the transformers do not exist.... I am a grown man.
Ambush Master
03-19-2009, 21:15
I was unaware that kidding was not allowed on these boards. I would hope that we can all assume I know the transformers do not exist.... I am a grown man.
Levity has it's place. Try here: http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=50
When subjects appear in here that are of a "serious nature", then that is the way they should be addressed. The exceptions to this, are when the subject is absurd...... as for the grown man, I think that that will be proven in the future!!
Take care.
Martin
I've seen several marine ospreys here and while I can't comment on their combat effectiveness, I must admit, they are pretty cool lookin'.
Defender968
03-20-2009, 17:05
I haven't flown in one personally, but I was stationed near Lubbock while they were being tested (and all those folks were dying during said testing), and I've talked to a few Osprey pilots, all that being said I'm no expert, but I can tell you I personally have no desire to fly in one of those things, the tilt feature appears inherently unsafe to me, that combined with the fact that it cannot land like a plane makes me very wary of it. Don't get me wrong I hope it works out as a military aircraft, and I will admit many of the pilots I've spoken with who fly it like it and assured me it was safe, but I'd still much rather fly in either a plane or a helo of any type than that bastard of the two.
Just my .02 though
Surgicalcric
03-20-2009, 17:50
Having both flown in and fast roped out of them I can without a doubt say I pray to the God that I never have to fast rope from one again... It took two 55 lb ruck sacks weighing down the end of the rope to get it at anything greater than a 45 degree angle so we could exit the darned thing...
Not a fun few ropes thats for sure...
Crip
Team Sergeant
03-20-2009, 18:05
One of my all time favorite Marine sayings:
(Place Marine unit here:) _______ Special Operations "Capable".
And this was from 15 years ago when there were no Marine S.O..:rolleyes: But they were capable!
Team Sergeant
Having both flown in and fast roped out of them I can without a doubt say I pray to the God that I never have to fast rope from one again... It took two 55 lb ruck sacks weighing down the end of the rope to get it at anything greater than a 45 degree angle so we could exit the darned thing...
Not a fun few ropes thats for sure...
Crip
Hellhole or ramp?
I haven't had a chance to work with them.
A family member is a lobbyist for Boeing that worked with the Osprey program.
He had "interesting" things to say about it. ;)
Dozer523
03-21-2009, 04:33
Yup.:D
Having both flown in and fast roped out of them I can without a doubt say I pray to the God that I never have to fast rope from one again... It took two 55 lb ruck sacks weighing down the end of the rope to get it at anything greater than a 45 degree angle so we could exit the darned thing...
Not a fun few ropes thats for sure...
Crip
We have have an Ex Force Recon Marine on our Team here. He said exactly the same about flying and Fast Roping out of these. Oh, if the tilt feature fails and it is forced to land like a regular Airplane. The Props are designed to break away upon contact with the ground, see its perfectly safe:rolleyes:
sleepyhead4
03-21-2009, 18:24
I had the opportunity to work with these down in Florida few months back. And as Crip pointed it out, fast roping out of this thing is a trip. Unless you have two people on the rope at all times, you won't be doing a vertical fast rope. I felt like I was actually going parallel to the ground when I was the only one on the rope...
However, it has its advantages. It's fast...faster than you'd expect. I felt like I was in a jet when it started accelerating and turning. The G's it can put on your body is amazing. As for other advantages and disadvantages, I'll keep that info to myself since I don't know if it is OPSEC. Last thing I can say is that it's definitely smaller than the MH/CH47. You're not doing any rapids out of these.
We have have an Ex Force Recon Marine on our Team here. He said exactly the same about flying and Fast Roping out of these. Oh, if the tilt feature fails and it is forced to land like a regular Airplane. The Props are designed to break away upon contact with the ground, see its perfectly safe:rolleyes:
Not to mention that it has the same glide ratio features as a brick - that forced landing better be on a nice long runway.
Magnolia
03-23-2009, 21:03
One of my all time favorite Marine sayings:
(Place Marine unit here:) _______ Special Operations "Capable".
I changed this post title from the original Danger Room headline because I thought "Ready for Action" and "initial operation capable" seemed pretty far apart.
Thanks for all the responses.
I lost a childhood friend in one of those early crashes (he was the co-pilot IIRC) and since viewed the whole program with skepticism.
One of the members of my Jeeping club is a Gysgt based at Lejeune, and in one of their squadrons. He offered to get me some "simulator time" if I took the journey down to J-ville. Probably should have took the grandkid while the offer stood... but they've since gone on a little journey.
OTOH lots of good folks are going to be flying around in these things, so I do hope they can get the bugs worked out...
dirt_diver
03-24-2009, 11:51
I had the opportunity to work with these down in Florida few months back. And as Crip pointed it out, fast roping out of this thing is a trip. Unless you have two people on the rope at all times, you won't be doing a vertical fast rope. I felt like I was actually going parallel to the ground when I was the only one on the rope...
However, it has its advantages. It's fast...faster than you'd expect. I felt like I was in a jet when it started accelerating and turning. The G's it can put on your body is amazing. As for other advantages and disadvantages, I'll keep that info to myself since I don't know if it is OPSEC. Last thing I can say is that it's definitely smaller than the MH/CH47. You're not doing any rapids out of these.
The CV-22's speed and endurance are two of its greatest assets, while its troop carrying capability hurts it a bit. The one thing I can say for sure having worked with the AFSOC planners is that the CV-22 is now their bread and butter. Expect a huge push on their end to have it used often.
Not so fast..
I have never warmed up to this contraption..
www.military.com/news/article/loose-bolts-prompted-osprey-groundings.html?col=1186032310810
Loose Bolts Prompted Osprey Groundings
March 25, 2009
DoD Buzz|by Colin Clark
All 84 Ospreys were temporarily grounded following the discovery March 21 of four loose bolts in a V-22 in Iraq.
“This is a temporary grounding bulletin issued strictly as a precautionary measure,” NavAir’s V-22 spokesman Mike Welding said Tuesday evening.
“If one of those came loose in flight, the worst case scenario you would lose control of the affected prop rotor,” he said, adding that no planes had been affected in flight. “Our priority first and foremost is safety.”
Four planes have had problems with the bolts, which help control the prop rotors. Two of those planes are back in the air, Welding said. The repairs take two days, he said.
All the affected planes are in Iraq, he said, adding that the cause of the loose bolts is not entirely clear yet and investigations are proceeding to figure out why they came loose.
The Marines expect the “red stripe” notice “to have a minimal impact on operations,” said Maj. Eric Dent, a Marine spokesman in Washington.
Although all 84 Ospreys are being checked, the inspection takes roughly two hours, Dent said, so most planes should be back in the air pretty quickly.
Welding said that as of Tuesday evening 62 planes had been checked so far. The hope is that all the planes will be back in duty by Wednesday, he said.
New procedures are being put in place to make sure the problem does not recur, Welding said.
© Copyright 2009 DoD Buzz. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BMT (RIP)
03-25-2009, 17:30
All 84 of the U.S. military’s V-22 Ospreys were temporarily grounded
Saturday after the discovery of loose bolts on the aircraft by Marines in
Iraq, officials said.
The grounding affected all V-22s, including the Corps’ aircraft and the 11
CV-22s the Air Force operates, said Mike Welding, spokesman for the V-22
program at Navy Air Systems Command. As of Tuesday morning, 76 of the 84
aircraft had been cleared to fly, with problems discovered on four Ospreys
operated out of Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, by Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron
266 out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C.
BMT
Not so fast..
I have never warmed up to this contraption..
Makes two of us! Just dont't trust twin rotor helicoptes - regardless of how they are configured - I will ride in em for mission necessity; just don't want to fly it for a living, or stand under it for any long period of time.
Mitch