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Subject: Osprey's for other services?
longrifle    11/22/2005 12:13:09 AM
If the Marine Corps eliminates the concerns about the Osprey, and goes on to employ it widely with success, does anyone forsee the other services aquiring them on a large scale? I know SOCOM has been mentioned. I think a tilt rotor aircraft, maybe the Osprey or maybe something similar, would be a great platform for parachute raids. The problem I see with parachute raids now is that one of two things usually has to happen. 1) A raid force inserted by fixed wing has to sieze an airfield for extraction by fixed wing. An airfield that may or may not have been a necessary part of the objective otherwise. 2) A raid force inserted by fixed wing has to be extracted by rotor wing, adding another link to the operation, as in Kandahar. With a tilt rotor aircraft the same aircraft that inserts the raid force can withdraw it, allowing drop zones and pickup zones away from defended airfields to be used. I think the basic idea has merit. I'm just not sure that the Marine Corps can work the bugs out of the Osprey to the Army's satisfaction. Thoughts?
 
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Thomas    RE:Osprey's for other services?   11/22/2005 8:28:32 AM
If the Osprey works out all right, then it will be interesting in more or less every area, where you now use helicopters. Helicopters have only one redeeming characteristic: VTOL.
 
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SB    RE:Osprey's for other services?   11/22/2005 8:26:45 PM
I believe I saw something about a gunship varient - I.E. a slimmed down, 2 seater version of the Bell/Augusta 609. Might be more survivable then a slower helo. Also might be just as easy to shoot down and cost a ton more. There's also talk of a quad rotor V22 varient, dual wing, with double the lift. Something that could handle 75 troops on a lift might be useful as an alternative to jumping out of the plane. I could easily see the Airborne and Ranger folks getting excited about this, as well as having an ability to lift in a Stryker type vehicle(s). Still going to need an airfield to land on, as that's the only way to get larger loads in to a location. Larger loads means greater firepower. Having tilt rotor makes it potentially safer for the assault forces though in the intitial stages. SB
 
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Galrahn    RE:Osprey's for other services?   12/23/2005 11:16:12 AM
The British intend to look into a V-22 varient for AEW on their carrier in 2008, the US may do the same to provide ECM and AEW for the marine corp for close air support. There is a QTR (Quad Tilt Rotor) program in the works, and gunship model is one such varient. Another interesting note, the Navy has indicated a QTR may be apart of any airborn wing for a Sea Base, and will be evaluated as a replacement for the C-2 on Aircraft Carriers. Be aware though, the current varient of the V-22 cannot do search and rescue, it does not have the equiptment required to pull someone out of the sea vertically, which is one reason why the V-22 lost some support in Congress over the coarse of the year. More than one congessman noted the V-22s lack of functionality in that regard, making it useless for "Katrina" rescue scenarios, although it would be useful for moving equiptment in "Earthquake" zones after the fact due to vertical landing capability. Since it is still a new plane, we will see how it is adjusted to react to many of the critisims that have occured due to events like Katrina, not to mention evaluations based on the deployment of the first operational squadron expected to make its first cruise in 2006.
 
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phrogdriver    RE:Osprey's for other services?   1/13/2006 10:57:03 PM
Production Ospreys will eventually have rescue hoists. They are useful for more than just rescues. I had to take an SAS patrol off a mountain in Afghanistan with a hoist simply because the ridge was too steep to even put main mounts on the edge. To do airborne SAR at night over water you will probably need a doppler hover capability as well. This is a specialized system for dedicated SAR assets, like the Navy 60s. The V-22 has an INS/GPS driven hover coupled system, which would be almost as good, but not quite what you need to do hoists over water. Just a side note--the first V-22 deployment will be in '07, not '06 as stated earlier.
 
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