Controversial Osprey aircraft deployed to Iraq (the VTOL - Vertical TakeOff and Landing one)

[Tab]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The first combat squadron of tilt-rotor V-22 Ospreys has been quietly deployed to Iraq , ushering a new form of aerial technology into 21st Century warfare.

A Marine Corps aviation squadron and 10 Ospreys left for Iraq on Monday aboard the U.S.S. Wasp, a small Navy aircraft carrier known as an amphibious assault ship, said Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Eric Dent .

The departure from the New River Marine Corps Air Station near Jacksonville, N.C. , was made under extremely tight security with no advance notice to the news media and no ceremonial speeches by Marine Corps officials. ``It was just another workday for the squadron,'' Dent said.

Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, nicknamed ``The Thunder Chickens,'' will be based at the Al Asad Airbase in western Iraq for at least seven months of combat operations. The Marine Corps Ospreys, known as MV-22s, will be used to ferry Marines as well as cargo throughout predominately Sunni Muslim Anbar province.
...
The aircraft, which flies like an airplane and lands and takes off like a helicopter, reaches speeds and distances well beyond that of traditional helicopters and is considered far more agile than the aging CH-46 ``Sea Knight'' helicopters that it s replacing.

But the Osprey's entry into combat will be under intense scrutiny after years of controversy that included delays, steadily rising costs and two fatal crashes in 2000 that nearly led to the program's cancellation.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20070919/wl_mcclatchy/20070919bcusiraqosprey_attn_national_foreign_editors_ytop

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"Thunder Chickens"??

[babylonsister]

1. From Apr 07: Osprey Aircraft To Take Off In Iraq

Osprey Aircraft To Take Off In Iraq

The V-22 Osprey takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter, but then flies like a plane.
by Fanny Carrier
Washington (AFP) April 13, 2007

The US Osprey aircraft is to spread its wings for the first time in Iraq from September despite suffering fatal accidents and serious setbacks during development, officials said Friday. Thanks to its revolutionary design with two tilting sets of rotors mounted on its wings, the V-22 Osprey takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter, but then flies like a plane.

First conceived some 20 years ago, the Osprey has been plagued by numerous setbacks and had several accidents which have claimed about 30 lives.

In 1992, seven people were killed when a prototype model crashed, and in 2000 23 people died in two separate accidents which effectively grounded the project for several years.

But now military commanders say it has overcome difficulties such as faults with the hydraulic system, an aerodynamic imbalance on landing as well as computer problems.

more:

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Osprey_Aircraft_To_Take_Off_In_Iraq_999.html

[Tab]

3. It's a tricky technology

and they've been screwing with it for 20 or 30 years now.

Still, if they can get it mastered, it'll be great. If it eventually carries over to commercial aircraft, it can change the airline industry (e.g.: FedEx cargo planes can take off from the FedEx parking lot).

It'll be curious to see if, and how, this "succeeds".

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. oooh, so survivable, so fast, so maneuverable,

unless one is landing or taking off.

then, you are in a tin can, slow-moving, awkward, and completely unarmored.

my, what a great idea in a civil war.

with many insurgents using the weapons that Betrayus gave them.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

17. Good Point...

... they will be deployed to Sunni occupied areas, aren't they the ones on the Saudi payroll?

[hack89]

20. Sounds just like a helicopter ...

and it has been a while since a helicopter was shot down so perhaps the threat is not as great as you make it out to be,

[ChairmanAgnostic]

23. except many of the military choppers

are heavily armored, especially the transport ones. the engines, the trannies, the pilot areas have plating, kevlar, and more.

not so for the awfulspray. No armor at all, to reduce weight. The rotors are so small that if you tried to carry armor, they would not have enough lift.

[hack89]

24. You are wrong

The V-22 must be resistant to flight critical damage imposed by hits in vital areas by 12.7 millimeter (mm) Armor Piercing Incendiary (API) (threshold) projectiles and by 14.5 mm API projectiles (objective) at 90 percent of their respective muzzle velocities (USMC KPP).

Read the entire article.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/v-22-survive.htm

Do you have a link that says otherwise?

[A HERETIC I AM]

40. Here's one with small rotors not lifting a Howitzer....

Here's one not lifting a Hummer


Now i realize your statement "if you tried to carry armor, they would not have enough lift" might have meant armor plating or something else, but there is an awful lot of misinformation on this aircraft.

Like any new airframe, it has had it's share of difficulties and tragedies. But it is by no means junk.

How many issues were there during the development of the various types of helicopters over the years?

[saigon68]

33. Yes Betrayus will be responsible for even more deaths

But like a true BUSHBOT he won't give a shit

I can't wait to see which defense contractor gives him a seven figure yearly income when he slinks out the side door of the pentagon

[supernova]

2. Ospreys have had accidents here

At one time, they considered closing the program.

[madrchsod]

4. take a piece of crap that could`t fly in ideal conditions

and send it into the desert storms of iraq...BRILLANT!

[flashl]

38. Thank YOU!

Do anybody remember these things falling from the sky during tests?

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. Are they hoping the enemy will steal it?

Might be cheaper than the way we're trying to kill them now.

[napi21]

7. These planes don't work! I have 2 sons that work in the aircraft business.

One is in the military and the other civilian. BOTH of them have told me these planes are a POS! I watched a display and was touting their technology, and I was told by both men that there are far more crashes and failures than successes. This has to be somebody's pet project to even havee been produced!

[babylonsister]

10. Thank you. I recall that, too. nt

[Warpy]

8. Yesterday was the latest one buzzed my neighborhood

and those things are LOUD. The Iraqis who aren't scared to death will be rattled to death.

They're ugly suckers, too.

[VP505]

11. Your right

they are extremely loud and I would think very vulnerable especially transitioning to/from vertical plus they are not very fast.

[L0oniX]

9. They are pieces of junk ...just more welfare for the military industrial complex

[tabasco]

32. Quite correct. Profiteering foists a useless death trap on our troops. n/t

[lapfog_1]

12. The Pentagon, not content with the number of deaths from snipers

and IEDs and truck bombs, now threatens our troops with these true POS.

Can you imagine doing those "hot" landings while driving a fully loaded Osprey? Avoid the rockets and machine guns... and oh yeah, your own prop wash.

[jmowreader]

13. So, basically, they wore everything else out

This is a Desperation Move.

The MV-22 doesn't work. That's obvious by the number of them that have fallen out of the sky.

To take this aircraft, which has the nasty habit of killing thirty or forty guys every so often, and send it to Iraq means they've managed to use up all the rest of the aircraft in the Marines' fleet.

[BrotherBuzz]

15. That's precisely my read

The Marine just plum worn everything out. I hear the maintenance units are backlogged for decades after this extended fiasco in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I understand the price to repair the equipment will run in the tens of billions of dollars.

[Tab]

18. Well, if we're down to this

And I don't think we have many of them

Then what happens when these run out?

[hack89]

28. There are 50 of them out of a planned 360.

They are building 24 to 48 a year. The Marines deployed one squadron of 10. They won't run out.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

19. but think of the shiny pretty medal and ribbon they get to wear simply

for flying the thing.

As well as the commanders who appear before TV and congress. who ordered their use in a civil war zone.

[hack89]

21. Need to check your facts ..

there were 3 fatal crashes, none in the last 7 years. It is complicated technology and I am sure that there are still issues to be worked out but there have been many aircraft that had troubled starts that turned out to be reliable and useful.

[Kolesar]

30. And the Osprey has had a long period getting up to airworthiness

There were Congress members wanting to axe it years ago. I have not been following the story, maybe you are right.

[Bigmack]

14. The insurgents take a while to...

dope out strategies for taking on the Americans. I figure about a month before they get the first Thunder Chicken. Crashes will come sooner.

[IndianaGreen]

16. The Osprey is not air worthy, it will become a widow maker!

Corporate profits trumps troop safety.

[hack89]

22. It has been seven years since a fatal crash

perhaps they have fixed some of the problems?

[jmowreader]

34. Crashes aren't the only thing to look at

The Marines have grounded this aircraft repeatedly in the last seven years. They've gotten much better about finding problems before a plane full of jarheads falls out of the sky.

[gratuitous]

25. Not enough folks dying over there?

So, what sort of maintenance is this Flying Turkey--I mean, Thunder Chicken--going to require in the desert? My understanding is that it has enough trouble flying under ideal conditions. I'm guessing this will be just about the last time we hear about this Hail Mary pass. Well, second to last, the last being when 40 guys buy it in a crashing fireball.

And who is the commander who will order this thing into a free fire zone, considering how costly these 10 White Elephants--I mean, Blunder Chickens--are?

[lonestarnot]

26. Oh boy!

:applause: More good news. :sarcasm:

[AllexxisF1]

27. Geez people...

When was the last time one of these aircraft crashed? Yes it did have multiple problems in the past but what new military platform hasn't during it's trial stages. Hell even the F-14 suffered many setbacks and even fell ill to many stalls during it's service life.

*If the problems can be worked out by the engineers than the Osprey would indeed be a fantastic aircraft for the military and especially the private sector.

[Robb]

39. Bearing in mind when the F-14 crashed

...it didn't kill a dozen people in one fell swoop.

I do agree, if the technology is mature, it will likely change the face of aviation. Big if.

[Kolesar]

29. U.S.S. Wasp deployed to attack an Arab country

Or... USS W.A.S.P. ?

[Tab]

35. What the heck is the USS Wasp?

???

[Kolesar]

36. a small Navy aircraft carrier known as an amphibious assault ship

Launches helicopters, normally.

[A HERETIC I AM]

41. Pic of USS Wasp LHD 1

http://www.wasp.navy.mil/

[MilesColtrane]

31. Prop wash makes it easier to fend off the terrified Iraqis who work in the Green Zone...

...when the inevitable happens?

[daleo]

37. I wonder if they could fly to Iran from there?

They could be staging special forces for targeting during an airstrike. I assume this plane would be superior to helicopters (in theory at least).