The CV-22 Osprey got its first encounter with a massive storm on Sept. 11 when it joined several other Air Force planes in an effort to rescue crewmen from a freighter ship in the path of the Hurricane Ike in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the end, all the aircraft had to turn back and the ship’s crew rode out the storm, said Lt. Col. Stephanie A. Holcombe, director of public affairs for Air Force Special Operations Command.
Two Ospreys, along with an MH-53 Pave Low, an MC-130W and an MC-130 P were ordered to the mission around 11 a.m. on Sept. 11 after getting the report earlier about the stranded oil freighter named Antalina. The mission was launched after the Coast Guard requested Air Force help with the rescue, Holcombe said.
The ship was reported to be floating without power about 12 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas. However, the ship in fact did have power, according to Holcombe. The Air Force planes carried four rescue crews made up of three pararescuemen and a combat controller.
But as the Ospreys encountered winds in excess of 100 miles an hour they had to turn back. Those same winds prevented the Coast Guard from extending its rescue hoists from their own HH-60 helicopters, according to reports, prompting them to ask the Air Force for help.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
You know,I wonder if the Nazis kept touting their world class Tiger Tanks & Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter jets during WWII. The ME 262 was the “F-22 Raptor” of its era. IF the Germans had introduced it in the beginning of the war when they still had capable pilots & not at the end of the war when all of their aces were shot down &/or dead,maybe WWII would have another outcome.Also,NOBODY believes that the Sherman Tank was better than the Tiger Tank,but again,the Germans introduced the tank too late when their military industry was broken down from allied bombing.
Nobody believes that Russian weapons &/or equipment are better than what we the U.S. have today,but we are pissing away our tactical advantages by closing down factories that make our weapons & by allowing the weapons we have now to fall into disrepair due to constant use in Iraq. How many F-22 Raptors we eventually have will be as negligible as how many ME 262 jets Germany had in WWII. If we don’t have the money to train pilots or to arm our planes with up to date air to air missiles,then we are asking for failure.
What does all of this have to do with the Osprey? Simple,how many Ospreys do the Marines need to complete their mission? We only seem to be filling out 2 squadrons,not really enough to help our marines. So the Osprey flew during Hurricane Ike rescue missions,we only have enough for photo op publicity shots. The Air Force only committed 2 Ospreys,that’s not very much. I’ll laugh in the face of anybody who says that 2 Ospreys is enough to defeat the Russians(the same logic goes for F-22s). Anybody who says or believes that needs to be piss tested for drug use.
And how will the broken American economy pay for said weapons and factory labor?
Will you be printing money like Germany did in WWII?
The best bet would be to sell said weapons to allies who want and can afford them.
Or “gasp” nationalise your arms manufactures + employ people during a recession pumping out arms so you can keep the war machine dream alive.
As much as I hate to say based on the news and media I read (not fox/cnn or US media, EU/AU news outlets), I am left wondering how long you guys can afford to keep floating your financial markets + multiple fronts (Iraq, Afghan, Africa aid etc)
Then again, the news I am reading could be intentionally putting that spin on things.
“And how will the broken American economy pay for said weapons and factory labor?
Posted by: Paul at September 16, 2008 01:36 AM”
Oh come on, its not a broken economy, it still functions fine but is going through tough times. People like yourself talk as if America has collapsed like the Soviet Union did but its cleary nothing like that.
Oh also you do realise that the UK is basically going through a recession as i type but that dosn’t stop in your words “+ employ(ing) people during a recession pumping out arms so you can keep the war machine dream alive.”
I don’t know what point you want to make Mr Smith. The V-22s in this story were USAF, the USMC are getting some two hunderd of them IIRC, so what’s the problem? you say that is not enough?
please remember that every A/C has to be produced and takes time to make them.
Roy thinks they only own two Ospreys it seems from reading his post…
I think about 100 Ospreys have rolled off the line thus far. There are more than two squadrons of Ospreys in the Marine Corps. I have seen them. So far two squadrons have been deployed to Iraq. It’s a new airframe and they are still working the kinks out of it.
The Air Force, on the other hand, only has about a dozen of those 100 aircraft, for a variety of reasons.
Not all of those twelve are stationed at Hurlburt Field (which is where this sortie would most likely come from, since it’s the only Osprey base close to the Gulf of Mexico).
So if you had maybe a half dozen aircraft at your disposal, and something came up, would you send all of them to rescue some sailors? No, you send what you need. Two Ospreys, each with around 20 seats (maybe a little less depending on what gear they were carrying for the rescue), and an MH-53, with close to 50 (again depending on what gear they loaded up), that’s a lot of room to pull people off a boat.
And what relevance does this have to the Germans in WWII?
“And what relevance does this have to the Germans in WWII?
Posted by: SwissFreek at September 16, 2008 07:16 AM”
it has no relevence to the Germans except in Roys head.
How many Ospreys are in each Marine squadron?
They only sent two because thats all they needed for the job. The pilots were smart enough to know that helicopter or tiltrotor, they couldn’t do the job in those conditions. Thats the only thing we can really take from this story…that and the Osprey, for all its “flaws” was able to muscle its way in and out of a hurricane. We didn’t lose either of them, did we?
I wonder if the Ospreys stayed slow so the choppers could keep up, or if they pushed in hard and fast to try to get there before conditions got too bad to get the crew off. If they had to slow down for the choppers, then whoever setup the op should be fired. Thats the benifit of the Osprey in a situation like this…get them there FAST.
“why are we not sending Stryker units & or tank units to Afghanistan?
Posted by: Roy Smith at September 16, 2008 12:16 PM”
Good point, but i will add that its about time some other countries other then the United States take up more of the workshare, that comment is aimed at the French and Germans especially and some other members who commit forces but are to shit scared to use them in any usefull way.
I do think though the US could do more now but though they are far from broke i do wonder how much cash they have to make aditional deployments of say armour to the Afghan theatre. I say pull all US troops out of Germany and South Korea within two years.
n the mean time it might mean ‘overstressing’ the US military some more but its high time Germany and Europe as a whole started looking after themselves, besides any conflict with the Soviet, sorry i mean Russia is 99% likly to go thermonuclear anyway, same with NK these days.
Perhaps one hundred and fifty thousand more troops could be free’d up within say four years if we did it my way. Opinions? (please dont say b..b..but the German econamy for i don’t care about that)
Perhaps they sent the Osprey into the hurricane for no other reason than to test it in hurricane conditions.
Right now there are 3,000 German troops in Afghanistan. That’s a fairly large number compared to the rest of NATO and the fact that their involvement isn’t the most popular thing going right now on their homefront. BTW, the German government wants to increase that by another 2000 troops, but face a lot of political opposition.
Strykers aren’t in Afghanistan right now because they’re fully engaged in Iraq to the tune of 2 of our 6 active Stryker brigades which is ideal due to rotation and equipment concerns.
Getting back to the actual story, I think its great that a) there was an Osprey in range of the Gulf and b) the Air Force appeared confident enough in the aircraft to attempt a rescue.
the danes, dutch and other caniks have tanks in afghan.and the french have been in more major ground combat than the germans.even more than the brits are seeing in iraq.what any of this has to do with an osprey in america who knows.
i meant canuks sorry canada eh
The Osprey has not yet been proven in battle. It needs to be in Afghanistan & not in Iraq. If we end up butting heads with Pakistan,then we need our premier weapons on site.The Pakistani army is more professional than Iraq was. We need our Ospreys & our F-22 Raptors on site in Afghanistan in case Pakistan goes totally to the dark side. Also,Pakistan has China to back her up.
Afghanistan is about to blow up in our faces & the force structure we currently have in Afghanistan is totally inappropriate for the task. Pakistani tribal chieftains are ready to help the Taliban if we keep bombing Pakistan & Pakistani armed forces are under orders to shoot down any American aircraft that flies into Pakistan to bomb “terrorist camps.”
This is a link to an article about the U.S. facing against the very same F-16s it sold to Pakistan.That would be an interesting thread to start & debate. It would also give the F-22 a VERY REAL mission to perform & take the F-22 debate out of the theoretical & into the real world.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/US_faces_the_F-16s_it_supplied_Pakistan/articleshow/3482718.cms
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