V-22 Marine squadron is expected to go to Iraq this fall

Dallas Morning News
April 5, 2007

Osprey Ready For 'Real Test'

V-22 Marine squadron is expected to go to Iraq this fall

By Richard Whittle, Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON * The moment of truth for Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.'s
much-debated V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor troop transport is approaching,
the Marine Corps colonel in charge of the program said Wednesday.

After 24 years and about $22 billion spent developing the unorthodox
helicopter-airplane hybrid, the Marines are expected to send a
squadron of 10 Ospreys to Iraq this fall, though no official decision
has been announced.

"We are ready for deployment," Col. Matthew Mulhern, V-22 program
manager, told reporters at a Navy League conference. "How it does in
combat is the real test, and I think we're real confident that it's
going to do well."

About 2,500 Texans work on the Osprey in Fort Worth and Amarillo for
Bell, which builds the V-22 in a 50-50 partnership with the helicopter
division of Boeing Co., based outside Philadelphia.

A mistake by a mechanic who incorrectly reattached a hydraulic line
during an inspection led to a fire that slightly damaged an Osprey
last week at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., where the first
V-22 squadron scheduled to deploy is based, Col. Mulhern said.

At the same time, the program is rewriting part of the Osprey's
computer software and making changes to the nacelles * large pods that
hold the engines and tilt the rotors * to prevent fires such as a more
severe one in December that damaged an Osprey at New River, he said.

In that case, a worn-out bearing caused vibration, which led to a
hydraulic fluid leak, program spokesman James Darcy said. A computer
shut down that hydraulic system in 5.5 seconds, but enough fluid
leaked to start the fire.

Col. Mulhern said, meanwhile, that unsuitable computer chips that led
the Marines to ground all Ospreys for several days in February were
quickly replaced and all aircraft returned to flight.

Critics have predicted that sending the V-22 into combat will result
in disaster. Two crashed in 2000 during testing and training flights,
killing
23 Marines and nearly leading the Pentagon to cancel the V-22.

The Marines, who have redesigned and retested the V-22 since then,
expect the aircraft's revolutionary ability to take off and land like
a helicopter but fly as fast and far as an airplane to save lives.

Col. Mulhern said the V-22's speed and ability to fly higher than the
CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter it will replace would make it far less
vulnerable to enemy fire. The Osprey also will get wounded troops to
medical care far more quickly, he said.

"The first Marine that we save, that lives because he rode into a
first-level treatment facility" will make the Osprey "a successful
program,"
Col. Mulhern said.

Col. Mulhern dismissed as uninformed a recent report by the Center for
Defense Information, a Washington think tank, which said the Osprey
had "fundamental design flaws that may cost even more lives."

The issues the report raised were resolved long ago through design and
training changes and retesting of the V-22, he said.

Marine Corps Commandant James Conway recently said it was certain
another
V-22 would crash at some point, however.

"That's what airplanes do over time," Gen. Conway told a group of
defense reporters. "And we're going to have to accept that when it
happens."

The heat and sand of Iraq and Afghanistan wear out helicopter parts,
especially engines and rotors, at a rate U.S. repair depots have had
trouble keeping up with. Insurgent attacks are also a major hazard.

"If it deploys into Iraq, it's going to get hit," Col. Mulhern said.
Helicopters there are "taking a lot of fire in some of those landing
zones,"
he said.

Insurgents typically fire on helicopters with small arms, rocket-
propelled grenades and shoulder-fired missiles, he said.

The Osprey can avoid much of that by flying from point to point at
altitudes of 10,000 to 12,000 feet, much higher than helicopters can,
he said.

The V-22's triple-redundant computerized flight control and hydraulic
systems also provide insurance in case enemy fire disables one or even
two such systems, Col. Mulhern said.

The V-22 also carries "all the counter-measures those helicopters
have,"
such as flares to fool heat-seeking missiles.

"There is no countermeasure for RPGs," Col. Mulhern said. "It's either
got your name on it or it doesn't. And it's a big bang when it hits
you.

"But when you've got the speed we have and ability to fly at altitude,
you're going to be outside of that threat pretty rapidly."

Mike wrote:


Col. Mulhern said the V-22's speed and ability to fly higher than the
CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter it will replace would make it far less
vulnerable to enemy fire. The Osprey also will get wounded troops to
medical care far more quickly, he said.

What a hoot
Why not compare it to a donkey? you will get even better results.



"The first Marine that we save, that lives because he rode into a
first-level treatment facility" will make the Osprey "a successful
program,"

talk about setting the bar low.

Col. Mulhern said.

Col. Mulhern dismissed as uninformed a recent report by the Center for
Defense Information, a Washington think tank, which said the Osprey
had "fundamental design flaws that may cost even more lives."

The issues the report raised were resolved long ago through design and
training changes and retesting of the V-22, he said.

Marine Corps Commandant James Conway recently said it was certain
another
V-22 would crash at some point, however.

"That's what airplanes do over time," Gen. Conway told a group of
defense reporters. "And we're going to have to accept that when it
happens."

The heat and sand of Iraq and Afghanistan wear out helicopter parts,
especially engines and rotors, at a rate U.S. repair depots have had
trouble keeping up with. Insurgent attacks are also a major hazard.

"If it deploys into Iraq, it's going to get hit," Col. Mulhern said.
Helicopters there are "taking a lot of fire in some of those landing
zones,"
he said.

Insurgents typically fire on helicopters with small arms, rocket-
propelled grenades and shoulder-fired missiles, he said.

The Osprey can avoid much of that by flying from point to point at
altitudes of 10,000 to 12,000 feet, much higher than helicopters can,
he said.



Remember its unpressurized and virtually unheated
the aircraft can fly at that altitude
But wounded can't
Oh and even the aging Ch 46 has a service ceiling of 14000 feet

The V-22's triple-redundant computerized flight control and hydraulic
systems also provide insurance in case enemy fire disables one or even
two such systems, Col. Mulhern said.

Except that the systems run right next to one another.

The V-22 also carries "all the counter-measures those helicopters
have,"
such as flares to fool heat-seeking missiles.

"There is no countermeasure for RPGs," Col. Mulhern said. "It's either
got your name on it or it doesn't. And it's a big bang when it hits
you.

"But when you've got the speed we have and ability to fly at altitude,
you're going to be outside of that threat pretty rapidly."


What nonsense. The V 22 is a crappy helicopter so it has to land and
take off more slowly than a helicopter of comparable weight and horsepower

Of course if you compare it to any old piece of crap you can "hit the
numbers"

But lets compare it to the blackhawk

V-22 has 4 times the disk area

V-22 Disc area: 9,100 ft² (840 m²) to Disc area: 2,260 ft² (210 m²)

4 times the power

V-22 Powerplant: 2× Rolls-Royce AE 1107C-Liberty turboshafts, 6,150 hp
(4,590 kW) each

So it has exactly the same "lifting power"

but the maximum up weight of the V-22 is 60,000 pounds and the
Blackhwawk is 24,000 pounds.

so 4 times the energy invested does not get you 4 times the lift


so the force available for lift is less per unit horsepower then for a
properly designed helicopter .

That means it will be slower in take off than a properly designed
helicopter of the same power


Vince

Vince wrote:
Mike wrote:
Col. Mulhern said the V-22's speed and ability to fly higher than the
CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter it will replace would make it far less
vulnerable to enemy fire. The Osprey also will get wounded troops to
medical care far more quickly, he said.

What a hoot
Why not compare it to a donkey? you will get even better results.

Nope, donkeys are more agile and more reliable.

-HJC