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All things MV-22 Osprey
- Thread starter Dave Shutter
- Start date
My pleasure
I didn't know they were that thin on reservists. I never thought about the reserve VMMs. The 4 reserve squadrons vice two runs counter to the current trend of moving assets/deactivating reserves in favor of more active duty.
To Chuck--I think the USAF is learning more from the Marines than vice versa, with the exception of high/hot/heavy ops, in which they know more working with birds that are much heavier than ours in the high desert outside Kirtland. We're flying more and have deployed with the birds a couple times. There is a lot of information flow via the FRS, though, which has a significant number of AF instructors and students.
To Chuck--I think the USAF is learning more from the Marines than vice versa, with the exception of high/hot/heavy ops, in which they know more working with birds that are much heavier than ours in the high desert outside Kirtland. We're flying more and have deployed with the birds a couple times. There is a lot of information flow via the FRS, though, which has a significant number of AF instructors and students.
Hybrid Tandem Tiltrotor (HTR) concept from Bell
Seems that the Bell Mafia is workin to counter the Sikorsky X-2. It would be cool to see either as operational birds working in conjunction with an Osprey.
Article --> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2009/05/bell-helicopter-reveals-hybrid.html
Seems that the Bell Mafia is workin to counter the Sikorsky X-2. It would be cool to see either as operational birds working in conjunction with an Osprey.
Article --> http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2009/05/bell-helicopter-reveals-hybrid.html
I don't care what they call it, it looks like a tiltrotor, and if any service ever sees a tiltrotor prototype cross their desk again any time soon, they'll be hissing and throwing holy water at it. Fair or not, the Osprey program was a Viking saga of pain and bad luck, and anything that even vaguely resembles it is going to be guilty by association.
We're firmly out of the era of innovation and gold-plated systems. Simple, proven, reliable and off-the-shelf are the words contractors should be using for the next decade if they want to see their flying machines get past the Artist's Concept stage.
We're firmly out of the era of innovation and gold-plated systems. Simple, proven, reliable and off-the-shelf are the words contractors should be using for the next decade if they want to see their flying machines get past the Artist's Concept stage.
The tiltrotor is proven and off-the-shelf now.
Another weird hybrid will take a new sales pitch.
We've already committed to escorts for the next 10-20 years, the Y/Z and JSF. Other than maybe upgunning the V-22 for some type of self-escort in the future, you aren't going to see anything revolutionary in the field.
Another weird hybrid will take a new sales pitch.
We've already committed to escorts for the next 10-20 years, the Y/Z and JSF. Other than maybe upgunning the V-22 for some type of self-escort in the future, you aren't going to see anything revolutionary in the field.
You may be right, but do you think that pitch would fly? There are colonels and captains now who were in short pants when the V-22 began flying, and no one will want to buy off something with any kind of family resemblance. It's stupid and it's not reasonable or logical, but I think it'll be a while before DoD is ready to be sold on an evolution of the V-22.
When I say off-the-shelf, I mean like NASA's next spaceships will be basically Apollo upgrades.
An X-2 configuration recently explained at the Quad-A Convention on 6 May. Seems cool.
Beefed up firepower for deploying Ospreys
USMC expects to deploy next MV-22 squadron with both a belly mounted 7.62mm (GAU-17) remotely controlled turret developed by BAE and an optional ramp .50 cal in lieu of the current 7.62mm M240 according to LTGEN Trautman speaking at the Paris Airshow.
USMC expects to deploy next MV-22 squadron with both a belly mounted 7.62mm (GAU-17) remotely controlled turret developed by BAE and an optional ramp .50 cal in lieu of the current 7.62mm M240 according to LTGEN Trautman speaking at the Paris Airshow.
Historically, FMC rates for any new aircraft start low, get higher through the middle phase of an aircraft's service life, then start to decrease gradually.
if you think about it, it makes sense. At first, you have few experienced maintenance techs, the supply system is immature, and you don't truly know which components will live up to their advertised service lives, since none of them have actually been flying for that long.
As the aircraft becomes more mature, you have more maintainers who've grown up with the aircraft, you have the right parts in supply, and incremental improvements have been made in components.
Eventually, at the end of an aircraft's life, it starts to wear out, and more importantly the manufacture of new parts starts to dwindle, and you get a lot more repairables that used to be consumables, etc. At that point readiness starts to decline.
Phrogdriver is exactly right. Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) for newly introduced platforms, missiles, whatever typically is on a growth curve and one of big reasons Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) is "Low" so Operational Testers can get their hands on a production quality representative product to test for Operational Effectiveness and Suitability. The Suitability part of the evaluation is in large part about R&M and ALWAYS wrestles with metrics for FMC rates and other R&M measures of effectiveness as the "product" matures.
Any new platform will "suffer" surprises as PD alludes to in terms of so-called "black boxes" or other components/parts that don't last or perform as advertised and have to be modified or replaced. Soooo, anyone wanting to be in the first squadron of the newest "ride" in the fleet has to be prepared for this aspect of introducing a new capability.
I think all of the services have similar issues when they introduce new equipment. When I was working with the Army on my IA one of the topics at meeting after meeting that was fascinating-in-an-academic-sense-yet-slowly-killing-me-of-boredom-because-it-wasn't-in-my-lane-and-I-didn't-care-anymore-after-hearing-it-for-the-umteenth-time was spare parts for the brand new MRAP trucks. That program by the way skipped right past any semblance of LRIP. Point being, at one point an Army O-5 told his maintenance people to simply keep trying and doing their best and that he'd lived through similar issues during the 1980s when the HEMTT family of vehicles came out. (HEMTT is the large truck system originally designed to support the M1 tank.)
And I don't doubt for a minute that people wearing all different uniforms at upper echelons poke their eyes out over this stuff time and time again.
This has been your joint moment for the day. We now return to regularly scheduled programming on naval aviation.
And I don't doubt for a minute that people wearing all different uniforms at upper echelons poke their eyes out over this stuff time and time again.
This has been your joint moment for the day. We now return to regularly scheduled programming on naval aviation.
I think all of the services have similar issues when they introduce new equipment. When I was working with the Army on my IA one of the topics at meeting after meeting that was fascinating-in-an-academic-sense-yet-slowly-killing-me-of-boredom-because-it-wasn't-in-my-lane-and-I-didn't-care-anymore-after-hearing-it-for-the-umteenth-time was spare parts for the brand new MRAP trucks. That program by the way skipped right past any semblance of LRIP. Point being, at one point an Army O-5 told his maintenance people to simply keep trying and doing their best and that he'd lived through similar issues during the 1980s when the HEMTT family of vehicles came out. (HEMTT is the large truck system originally designed to support the M1 tank.)
And I don't doubt for a minute that people wearing all different uniforms at upper echelons poke their eyes out over this stuff time and time again.
This has been your joint moment for the day. We now return to regularly scheduled programming on naval aviation.
Clausewitz talked about the "Fog of War"; there is also the "Fog of Acquisition/procurement" that involves the urgent demand signal for, let's say, widget X. In the case of MRAP where the demand signal is so strong that contracts are let rapidly to get widget X into theatre as soon as possible, then the urgency foregoes the traditional and sometimes lengthy process of research/development test & evaluation and operational test that works the other so-called "ilities" to introduce widget X with a logistics tail with parts and technical support as well as relevant training package. The saying that results is "if you want it bad, you get it bad". Not to say you can't accelerate "the process", you just have to work it hard and know what you're taking on and have right people to tackle these challenges. What a lot of people don't realize is the simple (really not so) aspect of getting contract(s) into place can be the longest pole in the tent (assuming you have the funds in the first place). You may uncover a urgent need for a part, but have to wait months, if not upwards of a year a more to get a contract in place and the vendor qualified or responsive to need. This is world I work in everyday and it is fraught with pitfalls and challenges to overcome a myriad of red tape and process inerita. It's enough to drive you to drink...if you're not there already (not that's there anything wrong with that!).