Hush Hush...The Ospreys Are Coming

Hush Hush...The Ospreys Are Coming

~snip

He forwards some intel from the Rainman of all things Osprey, Rick Whittle, who covered the plane as a reporter for the Dallas Morning News and took the buyout a few years ago to write his upcoming book on the helo/fixed wing hybrid transport "The Dream Machine: The untold story of the notorious V-22 Osprey."

I've worked with Rick a lot on stories back in his regular journalism days and I consider him a friend and colleague. He forwarded a note to Jamie giving his take on the deployment, which is now set for November, and I invite you to read the whole post at TLOD.

“This is the first deployment to Afghanistan — and it should be the acid test, given the terrain and climate and the fact that Al Qaeda and the Taliban will surely be gunning for the aircraft if they see it. The Osprey didn’t get shot at much in Iraq because it was flying mainly in Anbar province, which was pretty peaceful at that time. It flew well in Iraq, even in searing heat, but most of that country is barely above sea level. Rotorcraft lose performance at higher altitudes and in hot temperatures, and Afghanistan is pretty high and hot.

~snip~

The excuse given is that alternatively the Marine Corps is worried about "operational security" by talking about how and when the planes will get there. Don't worry folks, I cried foul on that one, but was still denied any details. I was then told that the Corps was hoping to reduce the stress any media attention would have on the squadron so best not to say anything which would prompt more questions...

Why the paranoia? Does the Corps worry about opsec when it talks F-18, Harrier, Cobra, 53 and 46 squadron deployments...yes, to some extent, but there isn't a media blackout on it like there is here. Just what is the service worried about? Didn't Iraq prove that the plane could do what it was billed to do? Why still the first time jitters? Or is it, as my boss suspects, that there's something to hide here? Miserable mission capable rates, poor maintenance support, deteriorating parts etc.


Rest of article about this $70 million dollar wonder and a good discussion at: http://www.defensetech.org/archives/005072.html

Of course that is a problem shared by most machines. Who knows.

Considering the lack of airlift capabilities in Afghanistan even a semi-operational platform is better than none.