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Osprey to make combat debut in Iraq

The Corps’ MV-22 Osprey aircraft will make its combat debut in Iraq when Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 deploys to Al Asad Air Base in September, Commandant Gen. James Conway announced at the Pentagon on Friday.

Lt. Gen. John Castellaw, deputy commandant for aviation, said the Osprey’s primary job in Iraq will be “to take Marines into combat,” but that it will be used “for a variety of missions” currently performed by the Corps’ aging fleet of CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters.

“The commandant wants to provide the best equipment available to Marines in the greatest need,” Castellaw said. “It is our view that the V-22 right now can do the greatest amount of support in Iraq.”

With the Osprey, “what we have is an aircraft that goes twice as fast, it goes three times as far and it is the most survivable by about six or seven times what the aircraft it replaces is,” he said.

It’s more survivable because its engines having lower infrared and acoustic signatures, making it harder for the enemy to target. Plus, “it flies faster, higher and it was designed from the beginning to absorb hits from weapons.”

The Osprey can carry 24 combat-loaded Marines or 12 litters for casualty evacuation. It can transport 10,000 pounds of cargo externally and 20,000 pounds internally, Castellaw said.

It can also fly 900 miles without refueling, which means “it can go anywhere in Iraq from where we’re going to put it,” he said.

When the squadron arrives in Iraq, it will represent about 30 percent of the medium-lift capability available to commanders there, Castellaw said.

He said VMM-263 has participated in two training exercises in a desert environment similar to that of Iraq — Exercise Mojave Viper at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., and Exercise Desert Talon, run by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 in Yuma, Ariz.

“And there’s a lot of dust out there,” Castellaw said.