Posts tagged as:

MV-22

Some Fun Coast Guard Reads In Forbes:

by Craig Hooper on December 14, 2022

Over in Forbes, I’ve put up a few Coast Guard pieces–a summary of the USCG funding proposal in the NDAA, and a suggestion that the USCG toss the troubled C-27J MPA for a mix of C-130s and the V-280 Valor, the Army’s choice for a replacement of the epic Black Hawk helo. The first, looking […]

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Last week America lost an MV-22 Osprey, a Special Operator and, in addition, had several servicemen injured in a bungled “fishing expedition” in Yemen. What can we learn from this? Details are trickling out, but regardless of their veracity (first reports are often wrong, and there’s always a lot of CYA in this sort of […]

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How, exactly, will the MV-22 Osprey–and other new Navy/USMC gear–help at home? It’s a valid question–Waaay back in 2010-11, when the MV-22 first started to shoulder aside the West Coast’s enormous inventory of venerable, obsolete CH-46 Sea Knights, I started urging the military to get real about evaluating the MV-22’s suitability for HA-DR operations typical […]

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It looks like the Navy is getting an UAV mid-air tanker. That’s great–it forces the Navy to really incorporate a UAV into the daily grind of carrier operations. It’s the fastest route to UAV normalization, and it offers a spiral route to something far more interesting. The little kid in me would have have loved […]

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The fight over the Navy’s next-generation unmanned asset, the UCLASS, continues, with, as USNI’s Sam Lagrone reports, another delay: The final request for proposal (RFP) for the Navy’s planned carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been delayed pending a review of the service’s information, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) portfolio as part of the service’s budget […]

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Back in late December of 2013, after ground fire somewhere in South Sudan bloodied a CV-22 flight and forced an ambitious Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) to abort with four injuries, I detailed how the V-22’s Operational Maneuver From The Sea (OMFTS) origins–and resulting inability to adequately suppress ground fire and lack of armor–made the platform […]

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So…the CV-22 Osprey chalks up more combat experience in South Sudan, with three CV-22 Osprey aircraft apparently taking ground fire on descent into what was probably the Osprey’s first noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO). Four of the approximately 46 aboard were reportedly hurt, and the Ospreys aborted their mission and diverted to an alternative landing zone. […]

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MV-22 Osprey as Firefighter: Does it Work?

by admin on September 3, 2013

As California strives to fully contain the Rim Fire–now the 4th largest wildfire in California history–it might be edifying to revisit the progress MV-22 has made in integrating with likely Homeland Security/Disaster Response/Humanitarian Missions on the homefront.  We will start with firefighting–can the Osprey fight fires? Asking the question: A few years ago, I wrote […]

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MV-22 Osprey Hits Turbulence

by admin on September 1, 2013

The MV-22 Program Office is on an emotional roller-coaster. Early this summer, things were going well.  The Pentagon inked a big Osprey block-buy.  Sales to Japan and Israel are anticipated.  A big Japanese deployment is underway. But then the Program looses two airframes in two months and gets hit with an IG report trenchant enough to […]

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MV-22: General Trautman, your job is on Line 1…

by Craig Hooper on July 23, 2010

According to this DOD Buzz article, Lt. General George J. Trautman III voiced his frustration that MV-22 Osprey readiness rates in Afghanistan had topped out at “roughly 70 percent.” Glad to see Trautman get frustrated. As a taxpayer, I am too. I expect better performance from brand-new aircraft. According to the DOD Buzz piece, Trautman […]

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