The Downdraft Could Do What?

The Marine Corp Times has been running regular articles about the upcoming Osprey deployment on the USS Bataan (LHD 5). I read articles like this because I guess I'm kind of caught up in the unique nature of the Osprey.

I want to believe in tilt rotor technology and I love the specifications of the Osprey on paper, but I'm too familiar with the history not to be a skeptic. The MV-22 is certainly expensive, but considering how much sunk costs there is in this platform, it would be a terrible waste not to get as much out of the R&D already spent.

However, in reading the article I came across something that, well...

But the aircraft’s power creates unexpected challenges.

For example, Kouskouris said flight deck operators are reluctant to land an Osprey next to smaller helicopters such as the AH-1 Super Cobra or the UH-1 Huey because the tilt rotors’ massive downdraft could blow the smaller aircraft off a deck spot. He has formally asked for this restriction to be included in the Osprey’s future training programs.

Say what? Is this a potential tactic I wonder? Could an Osprey be cruising along at 14,000 ft, spot a SUV of bad guys, switch on the tilt rotor and swoop down close to the ground and actually flip the SUV with the downdraft? Then land, jump out with some Marines, grab the bad guys, and zoom away.

I don't know, I don't hang around helicopters but maybe once a year, and I've never seen an Osprey, but that paragraph just kinda jumped off the page. It sounds like that could be a problem, and it probably isn't going to sit well with some people if a H-1 does end up blown off a ship.

It has been suggested we will likely soon learn a lot about the Osprey because it may get a chance to prove itself in Afghanistan. The same article goes on to note another Osprey specific operational issue.

The speed and range also raise new questions for Marine strategists. The old CH-46s typically flew ashore with close-air support from the Cobras and Hueys. But those smaller, slower helicopters can’t keep up with the Ospreys on long-haul missions.

Marines said some options for providing Ospreys with close-air support include:

• Using AV-8B Harriers, which are fast enough to keep up with the Ospreys and can provide fire support.
• Flying the Hueys or Cobras first so they’ll show up at the same time as the faster-moving Ospreys.
• Pre-positioning the smaller, slower aircraft on a ship closer to shore so they have less distance to travel and can arrive simultaneously with the Osprey.

When I talked to General Conway last year, I asked him if he could describe what the MV-22 / F-35B capability will allow the Marines to do. I wrote down that he said "It will give us the capability to reach out a very long distance and get to a lot of places very quickly, a unique capability that Marines have never had before from sea."