Spanish marines parachute from an MV-22B Osprey assigned to Marine
Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (Reinforced), 22nd Marine Expeditionary
Unit, into a Spanish military training area northwest of Naval Station
Rota, Spain, June 23, as part of the bilateral Spanish amphibious
landing exercise 2011. The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, which includes
multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, dock landing ship USS
Whidbey Island and the amphibious transport dock USS Mesa Verde are also
participating in the exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd
Class Erin Lea Boyce) |
Parachuting out of an Osprey? Isn't that like LAPES'ing out of a Chinook?
ReplyDeleteyou got jokes huh! that was funny;))
ReplyDeletebut seriously...
i think its probably more about them getting naval jump wings rather than it being tactically viable.
besides i've seen some goofy stuff....parachuting out of chinooks and hueys (never seen it done from a CH-53 though)...so i'm really not surprised.
It makes for a good demo and they might need the jump to keep a jump pay qualification, two valid reasons for jumping out of a perfectly good Osprey.
ReplyDeleteI thought about it a little more and now I'm curious about the MV-22 for HALO/HAHO support. Supposedly the service ceiling of the Osprey is 25,000 feet, about the minimum for HALO/HAHO (thank you wikipedia) but honestly 25,000' seems a little low for a plane as over powered for conventional flight as the Osprey.
Still, it's much higher than even the CH-53E so there's another advantage for the Osprey for spec ops work, especially off ships where you can't grab a handy C-130 just for your high altitude drops.
from what i understand the altitude is limited by the lack of pressurization.
ReplyDeletebut even for the purposes of Special Forces is HALO/HAHO really used operationally?
i mean seriously the ideal place for that type insertion would have been the Bin Laden kill but they helo-ed in just like a conventional force would.
probably deserves a separate post but with Special Forces going all raids, and nothing but raids i wonder if they're losing there umph in other fields/skills