By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday May 5, 2007 15:37:51 EDT

MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — When the Marine Corps deploys its MV-22 to Iraq in September, it’ll take along two guests — a pilot and a maintainer from the Air Force’s new special operations Osprey squadron.

The deployment of the MV-22 tilt-rotor Osprey, with its promising future and troubled past, will mark the aircraft’s first real-world mission, and the Air Force will be watching closely.

“We’ll be there with them on day one and learn the same lessons they learn,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Wooley, commanding general of Air Force Special Operations Command, whose first two CV-22 Ospreys are scheduled to reach initial operating capability in January 2009 and deploy to the war zone.

The Marines now have 42 Ospreys. AFSOC won’t have the rest of its 50 Ospreys until 2017, a schedule Wooley wants to accelerate.

Plans call for delivery of five to six CV-22s each year.

“I’d like to see production increased. I’m up on the net advocating for that every chance I get,” he told Air Force Times during an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the creation of U.S. Special Operations Command.

Although the same companies manufacture the Marine Corps and Air Force versions of the Osprey, Wooley didn’t think it was a matter of competition for production.

“It’s a partnership, a joint program. The Marine Corps saw a need to replace their CH-46; we have a need to go faster and have a pinpoint need for accuracy. It’s about money,” Wooley said, noting that he had recently visited the Bell Textron Helicopter production site in Amarillo, Texas, and “they have increased production capability. I think it could be done.”

The aircraft, he pointed out, is uniquely suited to AFSOC’s mission because of its ability to make long-range trips and refuel en route, potentially flying small teams of Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces soldiers or Army Rangers from a base such as MacDill and infiltrating them overseas without the need for stops or a runway.

“Anybody who needs a ride to the fight jumps in that airplane and goes,” he said.
Like a brand-new car

In the meantime, the pilots and crew members assigned to the 8th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., AFSOC’s first operational go-to-war unit, are having trouble hiding their smiles.

Their Osprey smells like a new car and could easily pass a white-glove test.

“This aircraft you’re standing on we’ve had for about two weeks,” CV-22 branch chief and pilot Capt. Paul Alexander said, praising the aircraft’s maneuverability and handling, despite its rocky history with the Marine Corps, including three fatal accidents.

“The experience we’ve had has been nothing but positive. In time, with flight hours and experience in missions in the aircraft, seeing it will be just a common thing and people will say, ‘Oh, there goes another tilt-rotor aircraft,’ ” he said.

Alexander, who flew MH-47 Chinook helicopters for 15 years with the Army, switched to the Air Force in September 1999 for the opportunity to fly the Osprey. He has about 200 hours on the stick.

“It feels like a Chinook, and when you’re flying it, it feels like a sports car,” Alexander said.

The pilot and maintainer chosen for the Marine deployment in September will embed with the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based unit for a couple of weeks, then go downrange for a period of time.

“We feel it’s pretty important to tap into that resource so we don’t go there and relearn everything they’re learning,” Alexander said, pointing out that “they’ve been flying it so much longer, it doesn’t make sense to reinvent the wheel.”

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/05/airforce_osprey_070505w/