DoD Buzz: V-22s In Af-Pak: Faster, Higher, Longer

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V-22s In Af-Pak: Faster, Higher, Longer
By Colin Clark Monday, November 16th, 2009 11:16 am
Posted in Air, International, Land, Naval

Now that the V-22s have landed in Afghanistan, it’s time to take a look at how they will be used. Robbin Laird, a defense consultant who works for the Marines — among other clients — got a chance to interview the flight crews of VMM-261, headed by Lt. Col. A. J. Bianca, about the concepts of operations they expected to follow. We’ve got links to the interviews, an interview with Laird and links to video of the V-22 teams undergoing deployment to Afghanistan and some of their training.

The top benefit of the V-22 in Afghanistan is a simple one, Laird said. It is not a helicopter. “Rotorcraft have been used for a long time in Afghanistan and the bad guys know how to target them,” he noted. Of course, that experience for many of the older Afghans includes using Stinger missiles against the Soviet’s helicopters.

The V-22 “gives the Marines a lot of advantages,” Laird said. The exact operating ceiling is classified but these Ospreys are operating at more than 20,000 feet.

In one of the interviews Laird did, he quoted a Marine pilot who noted that the Osprey does have limitations when it flies at its highest altitudes. “Now obviously, we can’t carry passengers at our highest altitudes. We can certainly carry cargo. We can go to get passengers and we can carry passengers down at lower altitudes. But flying at higher altitudes makes you a whole lot faster.

“And I see that really glossed over when this airplane is briefed, you know. The average ground person, or someone who’s not a pilot, or even a rotary pilot, may not fully understand it. At higher altitudes, you’re about a hundred knots faster than you are on the surface, in any airplane, Tiltrotor or otherwise,” the Marine told Laird.


Rest of article at: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2009/11/16/v-22s-in-af-pak-faster-higher-longer/?wh=wh