Bigworm,
Another issue (in addition to the cost) of a turret gun is weight. The Osprey is already overweight and they are trying every conceivable measure to reduce weight (that is one of the reasons for the 5000 PSI, titanium line hydraulic system - most aircraft operate at roughly 3000 PSI). The last thing the Osprey needs is more weight.... I am waiting to hear what PhrogDriver says - if he is convinced then that is a good sign the MV-22 might have turned the corner.
1DevilDoc,
As for selection in advanced helos, you are given a dream sheet in which you rank your choices from 1 to 10. They are (in no particular order): 53E's East, 46's East, Cobras East, Hueys East, 53E's West, 46's West, Cobras West, Hueys West, 53D's Hawaii, and 46's Okinawa. The slots available for a given winging are sent down from the company grade helo monitor at HQMC and given to the USMC student control officers at HT-8 and HT-18. The students are ranked based upon the grades and then the dream sheets are looked at. Generally, it goes straight down the list (SNA with the best grades to SNA with the bottom grades) but occasionally we switch things around so that everybody comes close to getting something in their top 3 instead of a few bubbas getting their 1st choice and others getting their 9th or 10th. With Marines, it is generally pretty easy because the students either want transports (46's or 53's) or skids (AH or UH) or they want coast (they will list west coast down the line or east coast down the line) and we have enough wild cards that want to go to Hawaii or Okinawa that they really aren't forced on anyone. Its a good system and handled right there on the squadron level. Hope this helps.
PS: There is no way to "game the system" because even the student control officers don't know what slots they are going to have available on any given winging.
