Osprey can't maintain combat readiness levels in Iraq

run! its an Osprey!
I am sure it is no shock to anyone who reads this blog, but the Osprey which was recently deployed to Iraq, can't maintain combat readiness of more than 80%. Which is unacceptable. Combat Readiness is measured by the availability of the aircraft over time. The CH-47 Shithook Chinook, a multiple decade old helicopter, can maintain more than 85% and I am telling you some of those Chinooks are OLD. Yet this "State of the Art" $16 billion+ dollar troop killer can't seem to maintain even minimum levels required in Iraq.

... daily reports showed that its "readiness rates" had slipped to as low as 40 percent on one day -– 50 percent on two other days. Those lower rates were largely driven by a dearth of replacement parts when Corps officials saw how some components wore out faster in the desert climes of Iraq, where the sand is finer than almost anywhere in the U.S. -- CS Monitor

Two Ospreys were included for the first time in a well-established mission called "aeroscout," a sort of roving raid in which troops aboard helicopters search for insurgents by air. The ground troops commander scrubbed the mission when one Osprey needed to turn back to base because one of its four generators failed -- DallasNews.com

But wait taxpayers, thats not the killer. The flaw that was causing massive problems prior to deployment to combat. (Due to the engine air particle separator (blower) failing and starting fires.) Have been classified a design flaw and a permanent fix to the design of all Osprey is required. Read: 10's of millions of taxpayer dollars. This is separate from the issues coming up in this combat deployment.

DangerRoom blog over at Wired.com reports there is an upside. Due to the fact that no combat troops want to get anywhere near the freaking thing it has become Brass Taxi.

The Ospreys have become a favorite way to fly VIPs, such as generals. -- wired.com

Heh, indeed.

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Camp Lejuene: Osprey Spontaneously Combusts

An MV-22 Osprey helicopter caught fire during a training mission and had to land at Camp Lejuene Tuesday night, officials from Cherry Point said Wednesday.

No one was injured in the emergency landing, according to a Wednesday release from Cherry Point. The Osprey’s crew evacuated the helicopter after activating on-board fire suppression systems.

The fire started in the helicopter’s nacelle, a streamlined enclosure for an aircraft engine. Cherry Point authorities said it caused “significant damage” to the nacelle. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. -- DangerRoom

The Pentagon has its thumb up it's ass on these MRAP vehicles. They can't seem to get them bought and deployed. I guess there are not enough retired generals and golf buddies working at these truck makers yet. But they managed to deploy a swarm of Ospreys with forward units. Amazing how quick that shit happened. They only thing Rumsfeld ever did that was of any use at all was quashing this stupid Osprey program. It cropped back up like Afghani poppy production hours after he was ousted.

As the Bell-Boeing guy said when they deployed the Osprey:

"There was a feeling of great excitement and at the same time we were praying for the safety of all the Marines," Leder said.

Yea, me too.

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X-Wing Starfighter Explodes

Baby Go Boom

Simply too awesome not to post up.

TechRepublic

Back in February, I took a lot of crap from Star Wars fans when I questioned the usefulness of X-wing fighters’ x-wings. Well, if the travails of the Polecat Aerospace club–and the video of their grand scale x-wing flight experiment–are any reliable indication, my lack of confidence has been vindicated. In the real world, those wings sheer right off. (Found via SciFi Scanner.)

What you see here is perhaps the greatest model rocket project ever undertaken in the name of fanboy pseudoscience. (Found via SFSignal.) Polecat Aerospace built a 21-foot reproduction (about one-half scale) of an X-wing and designed it to fly–rocket style–with the aid of four M-class solid rocket engines. It even had radio-controlled pivot wings and dome-spinning R2-D2.

They probably should have tried an A-wing starfighter instead. At least it looks like it incorporates some form of blended-wing lifting body.

Build notes. (You know you want to.)

h/t Boing Boing.

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Absolutely Shocking Freaking News

I am sure you will be a fucking shocked as i was with this news.

BAGHDAD - The V-22 Osprey has arrived in a combat zone for the first time.

It was an epic trip for the tilt-rotor plane, one that took more than 25 years of development and cost 30 lives and $20 billion. Even the last short hop - from an aircraft carrier into Iraq - went awry, U.S. military officials said yesterday.

A malfunction forced one of the 10 Ospreys that were deployed to land in Jordan on Thursday. The Marines flew parts to it from Iraq and repaired it. After it took off again Saturday, the problem recurred, and it had to turn back and land in Jordan a second time, said Maj. Jeff Pool, a U.S. military spokesman in western Iraq. The Osprey finally was repaired and arrived at Asad air base in western Iraq late Sunday afternoon.

Maj. Eric Dent, an Osprey spokesman at Marine headquarters in Washington, declined to identify the problem.

"The nature of the malfunction was a minor issue, but our aircrews are top-notch when it comes to safety," Dent said in an e-mail. "Rather than continue, the aircrew opted to land at a predetermined divert location and further investigate the issue." -- philly.com

Yes.... uhm... "predetermined divert location", yes, its called the ground.

When is congress going to stand up to the Pentagon and put a stop to this death trap?

How many missions will this endanger in country? You can be sure no one will want to have this aircraft provide support for their operation. You can't trust it to be able to safely extract you or your men. I wouldn't fly in the thing and our soldiers shouldn't be forced to.

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Osprey lands safely!

Apparently its news that the Osprey landed safely on something



oh wait, thats the wrong link...

here it is, via defensetech

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