The newest member of the Special Operations Command's
aviation family, the CV-22 tilt-rotor, is being hailed by military officials
as a cornerstone technology that will have significant and long-term implications
for future combat operations.
The Osprey is a multi-purpose, long-range aircraft used for insertion and extraction
of troops. It can land and take off vertically, like a helicopter, but can fly
over longer distances with the speed of a turboprop plane.
According to Air Force Lt. Col. Jonathan Jay, CV-22 program manager, the technology
pioneered by the CV-22's parent aircraft, the Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey, increasingly
will be applied to other platforms, such as heavy-lift transport airplanes.
During the next 20 years, he predicted, tilt-rotors could make helicopters obsolete.
Desert One
Advocates of the Osprey point to events that took place one April night in 1980
as the catalyst for what later became the V-22 program. That night, on a mission
to rescue 52 American hostages imprisoned at the American Embassy in Tehran,
a U.S. military RH-35 helicopter hovering over the Iranian desert collided with
a C-130 transport and crashed in an exploding ball of flame. Eight people died
in the conflagration at a site code-named Desert One. Tragically, the mission
ended ignominiously short of its objective.
In 1982, contractors Bell (now Bell
Helicopter Textron) and Boeing formed a partnership to build the Osprey.
Over the V-22's long research and development cycle, it became something of
a Phoenix in its own right. In 1989, at the start of the Bush administration,
the V-22 program fell to the budget-cutting ax, becoming one of the first casualties
of Pentagon cutbacks.
Members of Congress fought to keep the program alive. But high-profile crashes
of V-22 prototypes in 1991 and 1992 dealt the tilt-rotor development a severe
setback. Despite the troubles, the Osprey survived to reach the production stage.
V-22 supporters contend that, if Ospreys had been at Desert One instead of
RH-35 choppers, they would have eliminated the need to connect with C-130s for
refueling and to hide in order to avoid detection during daylight hours.
The Osprey specifically is intended to handle operations such as hostage and
downed-pilot rescues. Its increased fuel capacity, compared to a helicopter's,
reduces the need for mid-air refueling.
Being able to reduce the number of stages involved in a strike plan also means
fewer aircraft are needed for support. Some estimates have an entire operation,
such as the failed 1980 rescue of American hostages, being completed, with CV-22s,
in as little as seven or eight hours.
The MV-22 will be delivered to the Marine Corps to replace its aging CH-53D
and CH-46 classes of medium-lift helicopters. The Corps is expected to begin
training with the MV-22 this year, with the first fleet squadron slated for
deployment in 2003. A total of 360 MV-22 Ospreys will be purchased by the Marines.
Modified Version
Meanwhile, the Air Force ordered 50 modified versions of the tilt-rotor, the
CV-22. These aircraft will be outfitted with customized features ordered by
the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).
Flight testing for the CV-22 is scheduled to begin next month at Edwards Air
Force Base, Calif. Four tilt-rotors are slated to arrive at Kirtland Air Force
Base, N.M., in 2003. By 2004, AFSOC officials expect full crews and aircraft
to begin deployment to the command's headquarters at Hurlburt Field, Fla.
Air Force crews already have started training on the Osprey. In early 1999,
members of 450th Test Squadron, stationed at Edwards, went aboard the Navy amphibious-assault
carrier, the USS Saipan, to practice flying, landing and tactical maneuvers
using an MV-22.
Among the key features that distinguish the CV-22 from the Marine version of
the Osprey is a multi-mode, terrain following/terrain avoidance radar system
(TF/TA) for night and bad weather navigation. Jay called the TF/TA the "heart
beat of AFSOC."
Other capabilities include:
- Improved mission computers that operate digital mapping and multi-mission advanced
tactical terminal systems (MATT). These provide situational awareness of other
planes in the area-both friendly and enemy-or of mobile enemy radar systems.
- A suite of integrated radio frequency countermeasures (SIRFC) which is designed
to increase survivability when encountering hostile electronic warfare and anti-aircraft
missiles. The SIRFC will be integrated with a warning and active jamming system,
which includes five chaff and flare AN/ALE-47 dispensers-three more than the
MV-22.
Both Air Force and Marine Ospreys will share the same AN/AAR-47 missile-warning
system.
Increased range in the CV-22 will be made possible by the addition of several
wing auxiliary fuel tanks and a right aft internal tank. A higher fuel capacity
allows for an additional 4,000 pounds in the wing cells with an extra 2,100
pounds, (about 800 gallons) of backup contained in the aft storage.
Consequently, the CV-22 will command a self-deployment range of nearly 2,100
nautical miles (NM) with one refueling, Jay said.
Another weight-saving benefit afforded to special operations forces would result
from carrying fewer troops and less equipment for their average mission. Marines,
by comparison, plan to use their MV-22s for shorter range operations such as
large-scale amphibious assaults.
The Marines, however, are installing two smaller capacity internal tanks on
all their Ospreys. Also, Marine officials plan to include additional wing storage
cells on all tilt-rotors assigned to Marine Expeditionary Units, which are special
operations capable.
Because of the distance requirements for most special operations missions,
the CV-22 typically will work with a four-person crew, consisting of two pilots
and two flight engineers on board, versus three on the MV-22, Jay said.
Jump Seat
In addition, the CV-22 will come equipped with an energy attenuating jump-seat
in the cockpit that has an extended seat pan and an inertial reel that will
let the flight engineer lean over the center console while in flight. According
to Jay, this seat allows the flight engineer to contribute an extra set of eyes
when flying low and fast at, or below, 300 feet.
On the communications side, the CV-22 will have four Rockwell DCS-2000 (advanced
AN/ARC-210) UHF/VHF radios. The MV-22 will carry two. Jay says that the Air
Force is looking to perhaps add another radio for the back of the CV-22, bringing
the total to five radio sets.
At one point, Jay said that a ramp gun-like the one on the MH-53 assault helicopter-had
been considered to provide additional cover at the landing zone. Officials ultimately
decided to scrap the ramp gun idea and to depend solely on a turret gun housed
in the nose of the aircraft. Jay said that installing a ramp gun remains an
option that can be incorporated later if needed.
One of the major pluses in favor of the tilt-rotor aircraft, Jay said, is what
he called "off-loading the high maintenance components of a helicopter."
He explained that the normal operational punishment that a helicopter sustains
on a daily basis, because of its design characteristics, is transferred to the
wings of a tilt-rotor once it commences to fly like an airplane.
As a result, there is less stress on the craft, resulting in overall maintenance
savings. When it shifts into its airplane mode, the V-22 can take advantage
of aerodynamics and fly faster than a helicopter while, at the same time, using
less fuel, Jay said. The Osprey's top air speed is about 240 knots, or 240 nautical
miles per hour.