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After decades and tens of billions of dollars in development, the controversial Osprey tiltrotor aircraft is finally participating in its first full-scale assault.
The aircraft -- which can take off and land like a helicopter, and shift to fixed-wing mode for forward flight -- have been used in intelligence and patrol missions. But now the things are officially operational, and flying in combat. The Ospreys of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 are taking part in Operation Cobra's Anger, a new Marine offensive in the Now Zad Valley of Helmand Province. The aircraft have been upgraded for the fight."The Ospreys are now armed with a 7.62mm belly-mounted turret gun, known as the Interim Defense Weapon System, capable of shooting 360 degrees around the aircraft. Additionally, the ramp-mounted M240 was upgraded to a .50-cal," *Marine Corps Times *notes.
Afghanistan will be a major test for the V-22 Osprey: Primitive conditions, higher altitudes and dust will make for hard flying and intense maintenance. The photo above, taken on Nov. 26, shows a V-22 parked outside Forward Operating Base Golestan.
Much as in Iraq, another of the Osprey's roles is VIP transport. The photo above shows an Osprey popping flares after flying the commandant of the Marine Corps to a Thanksgiving visit Marines with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment at FOB Golestan, Afghanistan.
The Osprey has had a controversial history -- and at around $11,000 per flight hour, they have proven extremely costly to maintain. While the Marines say its performance in Iraq validated the Osprey's effectiveness, the critics have been less than convinced. During a hearing this summer of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Ed Towns, the committee chairman, declared: “It’s time to put the Osprey out of its misery.”
Standard helicopters turn southern Afghanistan's arid landscape into almost-impenetrable clouds. Ospreys do much worse. Here, a marine at Camp Bastion shields himself from the dirt and the rocks kicked up by the tiltrotor.
Osprey are shown here preparing to take off from the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, in early November. The Ospreys flew to southern Afghanistan, where they began flying their combat sorties.
UPDATE: "This deployment is already emerging as the best test of its capabilities the V-22 has faced yet, says Richard Whittle, author of the forthcoming The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey. "I don't know if any have come under fire yet, but given the level of combat in Helmand, the chances of that happening appear to be far greater than they were in Iraq. The Ospreys that went to Iraq in 2007, when I went over to ride with them while working on my book, happened to arrive just when peace had broken out in Anbar province, the Marines' area of responsibility.
"In any event," Whittle adds, "the ones in Afghanistan are better equipped to fire back than those that went to Iraq were."
[PHOTOS: U.S. Department of Defense]
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