It's a grey and overcast morning in southern California as I make my way down I-15 towards San Diego and MCAS Miramar, but by the time I arrive at the gate and meet my escort, Cpl Beauregard from Public Affairs, the sun is starting to break through the hazy marine layer and it has the makings of a warm and pleasant day.
I'm here at Miramar to pay a visit to Marine Air Group 16. Forming part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, MAG-16 is an assault support group equipped entirely with rotary-winged assets. In the past I would have said "helicopters" in place of "rotary-winged assets" but that description no longer totally holds true since the group's medium lift squadrons began the replacement of the venerable CH-46E Sea Knight with the remarkable MV-22B Osprey.
MAG 16 is currently composed of eight squadrons. Four of these are Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadrons - HMH-361 'Flying Tigers', HMH-462 'Heavy Haulers', HMH-465 'Warhorse' and HMH-466 'Wolfpack'. All of these units operate the mighty Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion.
The Super Stallion is used by the Marine Corps for heavy lifting, including the transport of vehicles and artillery pieces. It entered service in 1981 and is due for replacement by the CH-53K which is currently under development.
Until recently the other half of MAG-16 was equipped entirely with the Boeing Vertol CH-46E Sea Knight. A USMC legend, early versions of the 'Phrog' entered service in 1964 and it has served with great distinction in every combat action that the Marines have taken part in since then. The final versions in service are of the upgraded CH-46E standard, but they are all still long in the tooth with a replacement being overdue for some time. That replacement has come in the form of the Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey.
The V-22 Osprey represents the first tilt-rotor aircraft to enter service. Whilst the concept of a machine with the ability to vary the angle of its rotors (or indeed entire wing) has been around since the 1930s, it is only now that modern innovations such as lightweight composite materials have allowed a practical aircraft to be built and enter service.
The Osprey can trace its direct history back to the Bell XV-15 technology demonstrator of the late 1970s. The V-22 itself was initially developed in the 1980s by Bell and Boeing Vertol. The first prototype was rolled out in 1988 and flew the following year. Development was long and sometimes difficult - the aircraft was grounded for several periods after incidents which occurred during flight testing. The test program eventually fell behind and it wasn't until 1999 that the first production aircraft were delivered.
The USMC began training on the type in March 2000 with the establishment of VMMT-204 but it wasn't until March 2006 that the first operational squadron (VMM-263 at MCAS New River, NC) was activated. Since that time deliveries have continued with the aircraft replacing the CH-46 on a squadron by squadron basis, starting with the east coast units of 2nd MAW.
The first squadron on the west coast to receive the MV-22B was VMM-161 'Greyhawks' (the former HMM-161) which made the transition from the "Phrog" to the Osprey in December 2009. This was an appropriate unit to be first to receive the aircraft as it is also recognised as being the first helicopter transport unit to be established when the squadron stood up in 1951.
Since then they have been joined at Miramar by VMM-166 'SeaElk' and most recently VMM-561 'Pale Horse'. They will be joined in the future by VMM-165 'White Knights' which deactivated as a CH-46 squadron (HMM-165) earlier this year, leaving HMM-163 'Ridge Runners' as the only remaining CH-46 unit in MAG-16.
The main purpose of my visit to Miramar is to meet with VMM-161 to find out a little more about the capabilities and challenges of introducing this new type into service. By the time we arrive at the squadron the sun is shining and it's starting to feel a lot more like California! After checking in it's time to head out to the ramp where I'm immediately struck by the large numbers of Ospreys parked there. Capt Steed, an MV-22 pilot with the squadron explains that both VMM-161 and VMM-165 are both virtually up to full strength now - I counted at least 14 aircraft on the ramp with more in the hangar undergoing maintenance.
One of the Ospreys is about to depart on a training mission, so we don "cranial protectors" and head out to the ramp to watch as the aircraft taxies out for departure and gets smartly airborne, quickly transitioning from helicopter to fixed wing aircraft. The sound of the aircraft is very distinctive - rather like most other Osprey traits its sound is somewhere in between helicopter and turboprop - but noticeably quieter than an equivalent conventional helicopter.
With most of the squadron on a flight safety day there isn't too much flying going on, so it is back into the hangar for a look at some of the technology involved in the Osprey. Most obviously impressive are the prop-rotors - massive and incredibly complicated contraptions which have the capability of folding to cut down on hangar space, a vital feature for deployment on the Marine Corps' amphibious assault ships.
Moving inside we meet up with Capt Ronnie Eavers and find a quiet briefing room for a chat. Currently VMM-161 has three distinct groups of pilots. At the core of the squadron is a group of senior pilots who have been flying the aircraft for up to 10 years and have huge amounts of experience on type. The next chunk of the community are referred to as 'transition pilots'; these are mainly ex-CH-46 pilots, many of whom bring a wealth of operational experience from their previous type, but who are new to the Osprey.
In addition the final third of the unit is made up of guys for whom the Osprey is their first type from flight training. Capt Eavers represents this group - he began his career as an MP, served in Iraq in 2003 and attended flight school on his return. I ask him what the squadron's current status is.
"The squadron just reached FOC - fully operational capability - so now we're considered a fleet Marine Corps squadron and we're in the process of putting together the building blocks for deployment. We're in the mission skills set - when you first learn how to fly, the first step is simply how you fly the plane. Now we're getting into stuff like using the TG (tail gun), aerial refuelling and field carrier landing practice. Those are the building blocks and when we're done with that we'll start putting together mission sets."
Capt Eavers did his initial training on the T-34 and when it came to making a choice as to where he would be posted, the Osprey was his first choice. The MV-22's unique capabilities and characteristics required a new training path to be developed for new pilots.
"After initial training on the T-34 it was on to the C-12 with lots of instrument flying and then the TH-57 at Pensacola to learn basic helicopter aerodynamics and eventually more complicated mission oriented stuff.
"Then you go to the MV-22 and you have to pull all that stuff together. It's weird because at first you have to think 'Fly it like a helicopter, now fly it like an airplane', but after a while you don't think about it, you just do it."
Learning a brand new form of flying is of course not without its challenges. With the Osprey part of that challenge is getting used to manipulating a fourth control surface.
"The hardest part of learning how to fly the thing is using your thumb. We have a thrust control lever and on it there's a little thumb wheel which controls your nacelles. So you have a fourth control surface which you have to throw into the mix.
"For us inital guys, we didn't have as much of a problem as the helo guys - they're used to using their nose to control the aircraft rather than their nacelles."
At this point we're joined by Capt Dave Hoover, whose two combat deployments in the CH-46 mark him out as a transition pilot. For him the biggest difference was cultural. "One of the differences coming from the helo side is we were terrible at filing instrument flight plans! In the objective area, the tactical side, it's very comfortable as the mission hasn't changed. The difference is how we get there. In the helo it was 500 ft pretty much everywhere we went. Very different from 10,000ft."
The tactical side was to bring a few surprises for even experienced aircrew however. In any helicopter dust landings are a challenge. The unique configuration of the Osprey makes them even more so - fortunately there is technology there to help, but there are still traps for the unwary it seems, as Capt Eavers explains.
"It's kind of disorienting because of the way our downwash works - it kind of shoots the dust forwards, which gives you the sensation that you are screaming backwards. There's a hover page that pops up and it's pretty much like playing a video game - you have to keep the little cross hairs on top of each other. It messes with your head but you have to focus, stare at the screen and block the other stuff out."
With his CH-46 background, Capt Hoover is able to compare the two types with dust landings in the MV-22 proving very frustrating at first.
"One of the things with the 46 was that even though it had quite a lot of downwash, we could beat the dust cloud. So as we were coming into land, unless it was really fine dust, usually you had sight of the ground all the way down. In this though, there is no escape!
"The guys tell you when you first start doing it, if you think it's going to be dusty you need to bring your scan in to the hover display early as doing it at 30 ft is too late. You really do have to transition early to set yourself up for a more controlled approach."
I comment that this is the opposite to flying a conventional instrument approach where you stay on instruments until decision height when you transfer to visual references to complete the landing.
Capt Hoover nods with a wry smile: "The irony was not lost on me..."
Although the aircraft gained a reputation for being troublesome during a protracted and sometimes difficult development phase, it is now maturing into a great asset. With the fleet having now clocked up over 100,000 flight hours including deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and most recently in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn over Libya it is notable that the Osprey is rated as having the lowest accident rate of any Marine rotorcraft.
That's not to say that the aircraft is without its issues, but most of these simply relate to the newness of the design, as Capt Hoover points out.
"Biggest headache is that even though the aircraft has been flying since the late '80s, as soon as you give it to a squadron and a bunch of marines, we will find ways to break it that the engineers can't even conceive of! One of the things that was great about the Phrog was that there were no secrets left. Everything that could go wrong had been seen before. Now as a community, something will happen and it's the first time it's happened in the fleet.
"You have to remember though that this thing is brand new - one test aircraft and then this derivative."
That's the key to the Osprey and understanding the reasons behind its long and problematic development. It really is a completely new concept, and one which is only beginning to fulfil its potential now. Capt Hoover sees a really bright and exciting future for the fleet and those who fly it.
"They're still trying to figure out how to use the aircraft. The people in the community know what the aircraft can do, now we have to start filtering up the command chain to the Colonels and Generals so they understand what the aircraft can do. That will enable the mission to expand to what we're fully able to do. That's what I'm excited about."
In replacing the CH-46, the MV-22 is taking the place of a Marine Corps legend - for nearly 50 years, the Phrog has taken generations of Marines into combat. Those are big shoes to step into, but so far the Osprey has given every indication that it will allow the USMC to revolutionise the way that it fights and add a new dimension to the battlefield over the next decades. The future is very exciting indeed.
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