By Emelie Rutherford
The Marine Corps expects to deploy the MV-22 Osprey to Afghanistan by year’s end, and for the nascent tilt-rotor aircraft to remain in the war-torn country for as long as Marines do, Commandant Gen. James Conway said yesterday.
“We think it is going to be just a wonderful machine in that environment,” in Afghanistan, Conway told reporters yesterday at a Pentagon roundtable. “In all probability, we will retain an Osprey capability there for as long as we have Marines there.”
The MV-22 squadron will be sent to Afghanistan “before the end of the year,” Conway said. The service, meanwhile, expects to bolster the current contingent of 2,500 Marines in Afghanistan with an additional 8,000 troops “by the end of spring,” he said, adding: “There are going to be tough days ahead there.”
The previously troubled MV-22 in late 2007 started operating in Iraq, which Conway called “the toughest environment that we felt we faced” for the aircraft. After the MV-22 arrived in Iraq, a slip ring wore out at a faster rate than anticipated, a now-resolved problem Marine Corps officials attributed to the unique Iraqi dust and environment.
Conway yesterday touted the airplane-and-helicopter hybrid’s performance in Iraq, where the service’s third tilt-rotor squadron recently completed combat operations.
“The (three) squadrons (in Iraq) performed as we expected; they did it without incident or fanfare, and through every type of assault-support mission required,” Conway said about the aircraft noted for its speed and quietness.
He said the “way it was able to shrink the battlespace was especially impressive,” adding one of his commanders in Iraq “compared it to being able to turn Texas into a place the size of Rhode Island.”
The Marine Corps plans in the near future to deploy the MV-22 aboard a ship, with a Marine Expeditionary Unit heading to theater, before sending the aircraft to Afghanistan.
“We’ve got to answer some questions for ourselves about seaworthiness and the effects of salt-sea air and conditions aboard ship…where the Osprey will have a great future,” Conway said.
Then, he said, “I can assure you that the next squadron, after this fourth one going aboard ship, is going to Afghanistan.” The MV-22 is expected to replace some CH-46 helicopters in Afghanistan, where that older chopper “has run up against age and altitude and environment and is not doing the job that we need for our medium-lift squadrons to do,” he said.
The Marine Corps took the lead in developing the Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT]-Boeing [BA] aircraft, which also is being built for the Air Force, Navy, and Special Operations Command.