When Pigs Fly With Ospreys

[unhappycamper]

When Pigs Fly With Ospreys
February 13, 2009
Air Force Print News|by 2nd Lt. Mark Lazane

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. - What do you get when you cross an osprey with a warthog?

For a zoologist, the question may seem preposterous.

In Air Force terms, instead of an odd looking winged-swine hybrid, the result is immense firepower and unparalleled close-air support capability for the rapid infiltration and exfiltration of troops in the battlespace.

For the first time, the tilt-rotor CV-22 Osprey and the fixed-wing A-10 Thunderbolt II, often nicknamed the Warthog, teamed up for some high-flying training recently.

"It is like having a little angel flying on your wing," said Capt. Luke Sustman, a CV-22 evaluation pilot. "Having these (A-10) pilots out here gave them a perspective of what we do and how they help us."


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/air-force-news/when-pigs-fly-with-ospreys.html

[BeGoodDoGood]

1. The Problem with the Osprey.........

has always been that it was twice as fast and had a lot more legs than the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters that usually act as escorts on helo lifts.

And the Cobra was the only platform the Marine Corps had for escorts. The AV-8 Harrier jump jets don't make good escorts; it is hard for the Harrier pilots to see details on the ground when they travel at high speed, and they don't have the long legs of the Osprey either.

I remember reading such in the Marine Corps Gazette back in the early '80's.

So the A-10 might be just the thing to make the Osprey a more viable concept for operations in opposed air space. Right now the Osprey only operates in a completely benign air space, which masks the problems the concept has.

That said, the V-22 Osprey is still a piece of shit and it is a crime to put 15-20 grunt Marines in one.

Walt

[unhappycamper]

2. Welcome to DU BeGoodDoGood! n/t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. The AH-1Z and UH1-W are a major uplift for Marine rotary wing