Defense Tech: Gettin' Ospreys Dirty

[unhappycamper]

Gettin' Ospreys Dirty

There are a couple more things from the MGen. Kelly interview that I wanted to throw out there for you all to ponder.

First, Kelly showered pretty high praise on the MV-22 Osprey in his theater. He added more to the "higher, farther, faster" argument that most proponents (and some reporters like yours truly) say about the bird, and took on the argument that the MV-22 wasn't really tested in the Iraq deployment -- namely because it wasn't dropping into hot LZs.

"When I got there there was some criticism that the airplane was untested and all that and that the Marines are protecting it and the commanders won't let it go into hot LZs," Kelly said. "Well, the fact is, you don't intentionally ever go into a hot LZ. If you go into a hot LZ knowingly, you're probably not playing smart baseball. ... Gen. Odierno and Gen. Petraeus fell in love with it ... because it zips around the way it does it was doing a lot more VIP lifting that I thought it should, so I took it out of the VIP business and got it dirty."

So this is the argument I was bandying around last year when I came back from Iraq (I spent a week with VMM-263 in the first ever Osprey deployment). Kelly understands the logic behind exchanging speed, altitude (and th ability to attain altitude very quickly) and reduced audio signature (he said the aircraft can come down rapidly from 9K feet to a vertical landing with a lot less noise than a CH-46 or 53) with .50cal machine guns. And he knows than when a commander can, he'll try to avoid a hot LZ every time because it ain't like a Phrog or a Shitter can do much better -- they'd be sitting ducks too.

And here's some more he said about the reliability argument:


Rest of article and a spirited discussion at: http://www.defensetech.org/archives/004725.html?wh=wh

[BeGoodDoGood]

1. Twentyfive Years ago.......

in the Marine Corps Gazette two AH-1 pilots (both majors) made the point that the Osprey is too fast for AH-1 escort and too slow for AV-8 escorts. And Av-8's are not really suited for escort any way.

So if your CH-53 or CH-46 is slower and more short legged, it is at least compatible with the only reasonable escort. I also understand that due to the flight characteristics, the Osprey settles into the LZ at a constant and predictable rate. That is, you know, practically suicide in a "hot" or contested LZ.

The Osprey will never be suited for anything but admin lifts. Nothing is going to change that.

Walt