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All-quadrant gun set for Osprey installation

Special Operations Command and the Marine Corps remain on track to install all-quadrant 7.62mm Gatling guns underneath seven Air Force Special Operations Command CV-22 Ospreys in 2009, officials said.

The 413th Flight Test Squadron is testing the turret-mounted gun at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. It has passed a series of tests including firing from a hover in August, said Dave Adamiak, a BAE Systems official.

Requirements officials chose not to install a forward-firing gun on the Osprey at the beginning of its two-decade-long development to cut costs. A ramp-mounted .30-caliber machine gun was installed instead.

Critics had ripped defense acquisition officials for designing a tilt-rotor aircraft to infiltrate behind enemy lines and deliver special operations troops without an all-quadrant weapons system.

But in 2007, the Defense Department awarded a contract to BAE Systems to quickly deliver seven Remote Guardian Systems and install them onto CV-22 Ospreys for AFSOC deployments.

Marine versions of the Osprey will also have a forward-firing gun, but the interim weapons systems will be installed only on AFSOC birds.

But, “once the gun is qualified, the Marine Corps will determine how to best deploy the gun on the MV-22,” Marine Corps aviation spokesman Maj. Eric Dent said.

CV-22 flight engineers will fire the gun with what looks like a PlayStation controller while viewing targets on a screen that is fed images from a color camera and forward-looking infrared sensor.

Having the screen in the back will also help the special operations teams get a better idea of the situation on the ground, Adamiak said.

“A secondary benefit is that the troop commander and the guys onboard will have a lot more SA while they watch what’s happening on the screen,” he said.

The gun, turret and sensor all fit within the “hellhole” space on the belly of the Osprey.

However, the model now being testing on the Osprey is only an interim solution as officials from the Joint Program Office continue to try to develop a permanent all-quadrant weapon, said Lt. Col. Eric Forsyth, the SOCOM program manager for the CV-22 Interim Defensive Weapon System.

Testing on the interim system has moved at an “acceptable pace” with tests remaining to verify the weapon’s safety, tracking and accuracy,” Forsyth said.

A concern before testing was the gun firing on the nacelles and propellers of the tilt-rotor aircraft, which had a record of crashing during its development.

However, no rounds have hit the Osprey during testing and safeguards built into the weapons system have worked properly, Adamiak said.

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Staff writer Bryan Mitchell contributed to this report.