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By DAVE MONTGOMERY
dmontgomery@mcclatchydc.com
Posted on Wed, Sep. 19, 2007
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 Marine Air Station at New River, N.C., was made under extremely tight security with no advance notice to the media and no ceremonial speeches by Marine Corps officials. "It was just another workday for the squadron," said Dent.
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 combat Marines as well as cargo throughout the predominately Sunni Anbar province.
Dent, citing "operational security," offered only limited details about the deployment and said he was not allowed to discuss the timetable of the trip or expected arrival at Iraq.
The V-22s, which in military-speak can "self-deploy" into war zones, could conceivably leave the Wasp enroute and make the rest of the journey by air.
The deployment marks a long-sought goal after three-decades of tilt-rotor technology that began with the development and flight of Bell Helicopter’s XV-15 prototype in the 1970s. Fort Worth-based Bell is manufacturing the Osprey with Boeing Helicopters of Ridley Township, Pa.
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. Critics say the tilt-rotor concept is still unproven and could endanger the lives of its crew members in combat. Supporters say it is ideal for combat and will enable Marines to get into hot spots faster and safer.
The aircraft has provided years of employment at Bell's Tarrant County plants, where about 1,700 employees manufacture major Osprey components at Grand Prairie and Hurst. The aircraft is assembled by up to 800 workers at another Bell plant in Amarillo.
Bell-Boeing spokesman Bob Leder, based in Amarillo, said workers weren't aware that their handiwork was on its way to Iraq until he posted a copy of a Marine Corps Times article about the deployment.
"There was a feeling of great excitement and at the same time we were praying for the safety of all the Marines," Leder said. "It's like 'OK, this is the real thing.' "
Dent said that "just under 100" members of the squadron were deployed along with the aircraft after training for the mission for more than a year. The Thunder Chickens' 28 pilots, including two women, all volunteered and were chosen by a Marine Corps selection board.
The squadron commander is Lt. Col. Paul J. Rock Jr., who has been flying Ospreys since the 1990s. At least a third of the squadron have had previous combat experience in Iraq.
http://www.star-telegram.com/national_news/story/240642.html
Posted : 2007-09-20 18:01
Marine Osprey squadron heads for Iraq
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The first combat squadron of MV-22 Ospreys, the innovative hybrid aircraft that lands like a helicopter and flies like a plane, has deployed to Iraq, a US Marine Corps spokesman said Thursday.
The 10-aircraft squadron departed Monday aboard the USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship, from a marine corps air station at New River, North Carolina, said Major Eric Dent.
"Their squadron is deploying to OIF," he said, using the acronym for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Two hundred marines are deploying as part of the seven month combat tour.
He said they will be "basically moving troops, supplies" in the first deployment ever in a combat zone for the aircraft.
Marine corps leaders, who have fiercely defended the MV-22 despite a long and troubled development that included two deadly air crashes in 2000, have been eager to prove it in combat.
With tilt-rotor engines, the ungainly looking plane can take off and land like a helicopter but then fly like a plane.
It is touted as having three times the speed and twice the range of the CH-46, the ageing Vietnam-era medium lift helicopter that it is supposed to replace.
Marine corps leaders say the "quantum leap in technology" gives the aircraft the agility and power to fly troops into combat but also stay above most ground fire on the way there.
It carries up to 24 marines and their equipment.
The marines are planning to acquire some 360 of the aircraft, which cost more than 70 million dollars each and are built jointly by Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing.
The squadron that left Monday is one of three fully operational V-22 Osprey squadrons in the Marine Corps.
Marine Corps Commandant James Conway said in April that it will be based in Al Asad Air base in Iraq's al-Anbar province, where marines are fighting mainly Sunni insurgents.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hbysgAHVkZt3fn8SV3u7kVBunj6A
Posted : 2007-09-20 20:25
Vmm-263
JENNIFER HLAD
September 20, 2007 - 1:25AM
DAILY NEWS STAFF
The announcement in April came with great fanfare. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway called a press conference at the Pentagon to announce that MV-22 Ospreys would deploy for the first time this fall.
Conway called it "truly a historic day for your Marine Corps," according to a Department of Defense transcript of the briefing. Reporters were invited to ride in the aircraft to bear witness its capabilities.
But when the time came for the Marines of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 to bid farewell to New River Air Station, there were no news conferences called, no press releases written.
Despite repeated requests for information about the deployment and requests to cover the departure, VMM-263 and its 10 Ospreys left Monday with no advance notice. The unit left aboard the U.S.S. Wasp, said Maj. Eric Dent, a Marine Corps spokesman.
"The big deal was made back in April when the (announcement) was made," Dent said, calling the actual deployment "less of a deal."
"Now they're just executing the next step," he said.
Dent also cited operational security as a reason the Marine Corps did not release information prior to the departure.
"We have to be very (careful) about the details we release," he said.
When Conway announced the deployment, he said the unit would go to Al Asad, Iraq. Officials on Tuesday would not confirm where the unit will end up, only that the Marines left for their seven-month tour aboard the Norfolk-based USS Wasp, a multipurpose amphibious assault ship.
Though military and aviation officials have been working on the Osprey for decades, the aircraft's journey to combat has been marked by mishaps.
Two crashes in 2000 - including one in Jacksonville - that claimed the lives of 23 service members resulted in the grounding of the aircraft for more than a year as officials investigated the problems that led to the crashes.
"The quantum leap in technology that this aircraft will bring to the fight has been a road marked by some setbacks, lots of sacrifices and the success of these Marines standing before you today," Conway said during the deployment announcement in April.
The MV-22 Osprey is a tiltrotor aircraft that flies like an airplane but can take off and land like a helicopter. Lt. Gen. John Castellaw, deputy commandant for aviation, told reporters in April the aircraft is twice as fast and can go three times as far as the CH-46, which the Osprey is scheduled to replace.
The primary mission of the aircraft is "to take Marines into combat," Castellaw said.
While the MV-22 is capable of "self-deploying," or flying directly to combat zones "in support of operations that require a rapid response," Dent said the aircraft's first deployment to Iraq "is a deliberately-planned, scheduled movement best accommodated by available sealift."
"As Marines, we prefer the efficiency and cost effectiveness of deploying aboard ship when time and existing assets allow," he said.
VMM-263 stood up in March 2006 as the world's first tiltrotor squadron. New River Air Station's VMM-162 became the second in August. That squadron is training now to replace VMM-263 when the unit returns early next year.
New River Air Station has five tiltrotor squadrons. Three are deployable, one is for tests and evaluation and the other is a training squadron, according to a New River spokesman.
Contact military reporter Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 8449. To comment on this story, visit www.jdnews.com.
Posted : 2007-09-20 22:21
