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Firefighting Osprey
- Thread starter Malo83
- Start date
Of course, they had to get in a snark at the end about the "troubled" Osprey.
That. Is. Absurd. The reason for a tilt rotor is speed and range - if you want lift, go with a helicopter. Super Stallion, Chinook, Skycrane, even the Phrog would be better choices regardless of cost - and I doubt if any of them have the same flight hour cost as an Osprey. For example, Erickson's Skycranes are fitted with a 2600 gallon tank.
No one was looking to privately purchase an MV-22, this was so the MV-22 could be used to fill the gap left by the H-46 in the military's MOU with CALFIRE. I'm not familiar with that document but I'm willing to guess that the military is on the hook to provide X airframes and they couldn't hit X without tapping in to the V-22. As with many things V-22, it may not be the best option, but it's the best option we have readily available.
Ding ding ding!
Exactly right. Plus, "Camp Pendleton training range inferno endangers I-5 corridor," is not a headline anyone wants.