West Coast Units to be Supported by Helicopter-Airplane Hybrid

An MV-22 Osprey performs a low-approach tactical troop insertion during an aerial demonstration held by Marine Tiltrotor Test and Evaluation Squadron-22 on July 13th 2005.

Story By Cpl. Ray Lewis

Camp Pendleton, CA. April 13, 2007 -- The new MV-22 Osprey - a helicopter-airplane hybrid equipped with a 7.62 mm machine gun that can provide assault and medical support and will soon be flying above Iraq’s dusty deserts.

The world’s first operational tiltrotor aircraft is scheduled to make its first combat tour through Iraq this September when Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, with 10 Ospreys and 171 personnel, deploys to Al Asad Air Base, said Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway at the Pentagon April 13.

Many units here will be supported by the aircraft while in country when I Marine Expeditionary Force deploys just months later.

“This deployment directly supports our Corps’ number one priority, the Marines and Sailors in contact at the tip of the spear,” Conway said. “This is a great day for our Corps and for my aviation folks in particular.”

MV-22 Osprey is a quantum leap in aviation capability and will give the Marine Air Ground Task Force increased flexibility and reach, Conway said.

The aircraft has the versatility of a helicopter, with the 300 miles-per-hour speed and increased altitude of an airplane, reducing the threat from small-arms fire, and can interchange between fixed- and rotary-wing capabilities.

It has triple-redundant hydraulics and flight controls, and can safely operate with only one of its engines turning both proprotors.

The MV-22 Osprey provides a greater degree of surprise, safety and survivability to the Marines it will transport. It will replace the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter introduced to the Marine Corps in the 1960s.

“It goes twice as fast, three times as far, it’s more survivable by six or seven times (than) the aircraft it replaces,” said Lt. Gen. John Castellaw, deputy commandant for aviation. “It can go to any location in Iraq from where we're going to (base) them without being refueled.”

Many of the Marine Corps’ top officials have confidence in the abilities of the versatile aircraft.

"It's been through extensive operational testing and evaluation, and it is our fervent feeling that this aircraft is the most capable, survivable aircraft that we carry our most important weapon system in, which is the Marine rifleman, and that we will successfully introduce this aircraft in combat," Castellaw said.

He didn’t just speak from statistics. Castellaw knows first hand.