First CV-22 Ospery delivered to the USAF

[SUBMAN1]

I'll post the whole article since military pages can't be copywrited.

-S

Air Force welcomes arrival of first combat-configured CV-22 Osprey



by James Darcy
V-22 Osprey Joint Program Office

3/3/2006 - AMARILLO, Texas --
Air Force leadership accepted the keys for the first combat-configured CV-22 Osprey from Bell Boeing Wednesday in a ceremony at the Bell manufacturing facility in Amarillo, Texas.

While earlier versions of the CV-22 tiltrotor aircraft are in use as test assets, this is the first of the "Block B/10" aircraft, representing the configuration that the Air Force Special Operations Command will take into combat in 2009.

Senior Department of Defense leaders taking part in the ceremony included Army Gen. Doug Brown, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command; Air Force Lt. Gen. John L. Hudson, commander of Aeronautical Systems Center; and Air Force Maj. Gen. Donald Wurster, vice commander of AFSOC. The man to receive the keys to the aircraft, however, was Air Force Lt. Col. Jim Cardoso, commanding officer of the 71st Special Operations Squadron, which will get this Osprey to support aircrew training at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

The Air Force will purchase 50 CV-22s for long-range infiltration, exfiltration and re-supply of special operations forces in hostile or denied territory. The Osprey provides twice the speed, up to five times the range and significantly enhanced survivability over other conventional rotary wing platforms.

At the same time, it retains the operational flexibility of a helicopter, with the ability to take off and land vertically, and insert troops via "fast rope" capability onto rooftops or decks of ships.

"This aircraft is the single most significant transformation of Air Force Special Operations since the introduction of the helicopter," said General Wurster. "Nearly every mission we have faced in the last 20 years could have been done better and faster with the V-22."

General Wurster also spoke of the positive impact the aircraft would have on protecting troops in Afghanistan and Iraq today.

"Our ability to move point to point by air, over extended distances at high speed, would reduce our exposure to the roadside attacks" that are responsible for so many casualties, he said.

The CV-22 is about 85 percent common with the MV-22 Osprey that the Marine Corps will deploy with in 2007, but possesses a number of additional capabilities tailored to the demands of its unique mission.

A multi-mode radar with terrain following/terrain avoidance modes allows aggressive, terrain-masking ingress routes to be flown safely under cover of darkness. The suite of integrated radio-frequency countermeasures and the directed infrared countermeasures systems detect and defeat radar-guided and heat-seeking missiles, respectively. The CV-22 also has additional internal fuel capacity and enhanced navigation systems, communications and avionics gear when compared to the MV-22.

"This gives us global reach," General Brown said of the CV-22. "We can reach out and touch bad guys wherever they live around the world."

On Feb. 24, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld rode in the jump seat of an MV-22 Osprey on a short flight from Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., to Camp Lejeune, N.C. The Defense Department approved full rate production of the Osprey in September 2005, following successful completion of an operational evaluation in which the Osprey demonstrated all the key performance parameters for the Marine Corps mission. Additional operational test will begin later this year for those systems and mission profiles unique to the CV-22.

General Brown said his troops would like to have the aircraft in theater today. "I never go to visit them without getting the question, 'When are we going to get the CV-22?'" he said.

Positive feedback has also come from operators fresh from the field during recent trials with the aircraft at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

"I spent the summer of 2004 in Afghanistan and led 22 direct-action air assaults," said one Navy SEAL team leader who asked not to be identified. "Coming in on the helos, the enemy would hear us when we were still [minutes] out. That was time they had to flee or to get ready to shoot at us. With the Osprey, my experience has been that you don't hear it until it's already over your head."

General Brown acknowledged that it has been a long road to get the V-22 from earlier designs to a mature technology that's ready for war.

"This is not the same aircraft that was flying six years ago," said Marine Corps Col. Bill Taylor, head of the V-22 Joint Program Office. "Both the aircraft and the program have been reengineered, and more than ten thousand flight hours over the last three-and-a-half years have validated those changes. And we will continue to make improvements for as long as this aircraft is in the inventory."

Tthe Marine Corps stood up the first operational V-22 squadron, VMM-263, at MCAS New River today. The Marines' MV-22 reaches initial operational capability, meaning it is ready to deploy for combat, in summer 2007, though the squadron will be airborne with its full complement of Ospreys at New River within the year. Initial operational capability for the Air Force's CV-22 follows in 2009.

http://www2.afsoc.af.mil/news/story....ryID=123016877

[Der Eisen-Wal]

about time!

[bookworm_020]

I daw articles about the ospery back in the early 90's. It took them over 14 years to get the bugs out it Heck!! How much money did they blow on it?

At least it wasn't as bad as the RAH-66!

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

From some reports, they hadn't really fixed all the bugs yet, and some shortcomings may not be solvable in principle. They are just shoving the darn thing out because as you said, it took over 14 years to get it to the present state. Try poking around in www.g2mil.com.

[bookworm_020]

OUCH!!! 20 Billion Dollars!!! For an aircraft that can't cope with the mission it was designed for, and yet to enter active service after so many years of work on it.

I'm sure it could have bought a lot of new, better equiped heicopters.

[AVGWarhawk]

This aircraft was a problem from the start and has crashed numerous times. I had thought and hoped it was scrapped. Oh well, I hope some more of the boys do not suffer a crash.

[TteFAboB]

Can it fly, like a plane, on a single engine? I've always thought of this thing as a deathtrap though it was fun flying it in those ancient DOS simulators. Make it unmanned, reduce the size/scale. That's it for my expert's advice.

[tycho102]

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

Can it fly, like a plane, on a single engine?

I'd imagine it can, but it would take some serious yaw.

This is a decent platform for the specwar guys, and I don't know if they've got all the bugs worked out of the avionics just yet. Hope for the best, but I'm expecting there to be some more high profile crashes.

[NeonSamurai]

I think it can, the problem would be landing it though, with the yaw effects, plus im not sure, but is it even capable of landing as a normal aircraft due to the size of the blades?

[PeriscopeDepth]

I know it can't land with the props full forward (the props are too large), but perhaps tilted it can pull off an airplane like landing? I'm fairly sure it takes off like that regularly.

PD

[Tchocky]

those things have keys?

Oh, and they seemed fairly effective in kicking my ass in Half-life....

[Linton]

Single engine performance of this aircraft is something I believe the design team would have looked at.The handling problems would be quite numerous and variable depending upon flight phase and rotor/propellor position.I have not studied any technical references for this aircraft but if I was on the design team I would put in a coupling to allow one powerplant to drive both rotors.This however requires a lot of hardware and makes the aircraft basic weight increase penalising available payload.
Having seen a number of references I believe this aircraft still has a long way to go before it is mission safe.In its present state you could not put fare paying passengers in it!

[JetSnake]

I believe it has some sort of cross-drive system to power the opposite propeller if an engine fails. Not sure how efficient it is if that part of the system is fragged though. :hmm:

[Dowly]

What about their maneuverability (sp?)? If they are to be used like choppers, to get the troops to the battlefield, they have to be capable of moving and turning while hovering. Those look alittle bulgy and slow... would hate to see them shot down just because of their bad maneuverability.

[Godalmighty83]

theres certainly plenty to shoot at as that thing is huge.

built a jet engine onto the roof for extra speed