Middle East News
Controversial Osprey aircraft en route to Iraq
Apr 13, 2007, 22:23 GMT
Washington - The V-22 Osprey will be sent to Iraq later this year in the first combat deployment for the hybrid aircraft after years of costly and fatal setbacks in its development, the Pentagon said Friday.
The Osprey features two tilt-rotors that allow it to take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a airplane once the propellers are shifted forward.
The first four machines will be deployed with the Marine Corps to Iraq's al-Anbar province in September, James T Conway, the commandant of the Marines, told reporters at the Pentagon.
The Ospreys can carry up to 24 Marines and are to replace the CH- 46 Vietnam era helicopters. The Osprey can fly much faster, at a higher altitude and for much longer distances without refuelling than its helicopter cousins. They are designed to quickly insert and extract troops in combat situations.
Marine officials believe the manoeuvrability of the aircraft like its speed and handling, along with sophisticated defence systems, make it harder to shoot down.
'What we have is an aircraft that goes twice as fast. It goes three times as far. And it is the most survivable by about six or seven times of what the aircraft it replaces is,' Lieutenant General John G Castellaw, the Marines' deputy commandant for aviation said.
The Osprey, however, has been criticized for the 50 billion dollars spent over the last 20 years in development and it was marred by fatal accidents that sent engineers back to the drawing board.
A 1992 accident killed seven crew members. Computer software glitches coupled with hydraulic problems were behind two crashes in 2000 that claimed 23 lives, grounding the programme for years.
'We're very confident that in both of these situations, we've identified what the issues were and, either through a combination of mechanical, software, training, that we have addressed those issues and that those are no longer problems with the airplane,' Castellaw said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
You paid for it, Might as well use it.
Gotta love Vertical lift Aircraft.
but wheres my Comanche????
those jarheads can do anything they cant see the writing on the wall???i was in viet nam in 67/68 and they would carry there wounded forever so they wouldnt loose one of those s/62...go figure...at least you know someone can work on the chopper not like this 59billion dollar B,S,
We have to remain competitive with up-and-comers, China and others. Go V-22 and other advanced systems of today and tomorrow!
50 billion and 30 lives... that's a small price to pay for freedom... (Barf)
I thought Freedom only cost a buck 'o five...
There also have been past incidents of falsification of maintenence documents for the Osprey program by high ranking military officers. The program had been cancelled but was revived by the Bush administration shortly after he was appointed as president in 2000. I predict that this airplane/helicopter is a major train wreck just waiting to happen!
After spending $50 billion in R&D it makes sense to use it and if it guarantees more lives saved from less helicopters being shot down then I'm all for it. 30 lives IS a small price to pay for freedom. Steagle by mocking the death of these 30 heroes you degrade the worth of their lives. It sickens me to observe the state of mind some people have these days. It's the lack of morals in this country that has arisen from a hippie generation which is polluting the minds of numerous people. Fortunately, the youth today is fed up with the ineptitude of politics in America. Don't get me wrong, diversity of opinion is vitally important to America to create a sense of balance. But when the squeakiest wheel gets the oil, and that squeakiest wheel is pushing for incompetent measures, the balance becomes a stalemate. So to return to the issue of the Osprey: It is good to see that money that has already been spent is actually being used and will (hopefully) save the lives of countless troops.
The Osprey has shocked nearly every observer with its enormous cost inflation. I now wonder how willing the military will be to operate the aircraft on high risk missions in Iraq. Whoever is held responsible for deploying the helicopter on a fatal mission will face intensive questioning. We may have come up with a weapon system so costly that its operators will not dare to risk losing it.
The tax payer could have saved $50 BILLION plus if somebody had left the plans out for Israel or China to steal.
Has the plane be tested? If not why not? The U.S. has spent 50 billion and as of this date, the U.S. citizens haven't been given any data about its actual effectiveness. Is this aircraft faster than a stinger missel and is it out of range of these type stingers
U.S. Marines always bring their wounded and as much as possible their dead back rather than leaving them to the 'tender mercy' of our enemies. Semper Fi
Jet engines have a nasty habit of igniting the brush below it. Not very good for the P/U or drop off of troops.
LOL.... All the amateur Chuck Yeager's came out to poo poo the Osprey.
Remember folks, the yellow zone is for loading and unloading only and please stow your carry ons in the overhead compartment....
To the gentlemen who are going to be flying them: Give them hell Thunder Chickens!
Only 30 lost? How many were lost in the history of the space program? What do you call this kind of thing again... Boondoggle? Lead balloon? I hope it works better under the stresses of combat than it did under ideal test conditions. Of course, nothing would shore up the demand for another $60bn in military-industrial toys than this thing proving itself a dud. I sure hope it doesn't come to that, for the sake of the troops who don't get to choose their tools.
Most of the posts here are dark and defeatist. Oh I know its safe to post that way, you can defend any pessemistic outlook. Hell the laws of thermodynamics are your main supports. But entropy can be reduced by an input of ordered information or energy. Go wring your hands and worry and suck the last bit of joy from your lives. The V22 is a 2 billion a year program. The porn you losers consume is a 200 billion a year market. Our only hope is that you dark siders go blind from crank yanking.
Semper Fi -- GO V22
This thing is already 25 years old. Even Cheny wanted to dump it 15 years ago. Rube Goldberg is spinning in his grave. A place next to the spruce goose is being saved for it.
I have a hunch the v-22s are being deployed in iraq because off maintance problems and losses of chinook helicopters. v-22s are practicaly brand-new while the other helicopters are generaly much older adn probably need replacement parts more often. Just as the Bush administration is prepared to grind down our army instead of admiting failure, The bush aministration they will replace combat proven equipiment with untested dubious replacements. The bush aministration won;t give up on the Iraq war but they no longer have the credablity necessary to get the nation behind them. Bush has zero credablity at this point. How can you lead a nation if no one believes you?
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JamesInSantaClaraApr 13th, 2007 - 23:18:14
Only 50 billion spent on development? What a bargain for our disposable taxdollars!
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