Corps to gain 12 more Ospreys this year - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Corps to gain 12 more Ospreys this year

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — This should be a big year for the MV-22 Osprey, with 12 more up for delivery to the Marine Corps as it prepares the war birds’ inaugural operational deployment.

The Corps received the 13 Ospreys it was slated to get last year, which brought the Corps’ total Osprey inventory up to 39, said James Darcy, V-22 program spokesman.

There are two MV-22 operational squadrons — Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadrons 263 and 162 — based at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C.

The Osprey is phasing out the Corps’ aging fleet of CH-46 Sea Knights. The service is retiring the third of six Sea Knight squadrons at New River, with the West Coast transition likely to begin around late 2009 or early 2010, followed by overseas squadrons. There are six squadrons on the West Coast and two on Okinawa, Japan.

The MV-22’s first operational deployment is scheduled in late summer, Corps officials said.