Corps seeks better weaponry on Ospreys - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Corps seeks better weaponry on Ospreys

The Marine Corps is plotting how best to arm its prized MV-22 Ospreys for the missions and potential threats that await once combat ends in Afghanistan.

Today, in addition to a ramp-mounted machine gun, Osprey crews in the war zone have access to a bolt-on 7.62mm belly gun capable of providing “all quadrant” defense. It was procured as a short-term answer to the aircraft’s perceived vulnerability, but has not been used — even once — in the two years since first reaching Afghanistan.

There’s a good explanation for that, one commander says.

In Afghanistan, Marine tilt-rotor squadrons work in concert with helicopter gunships or fixed-wing fighters that act as armed bodyguards, of sorts, capable of providing fire support. That allows the Osprey to stay focused on transporting men and equipment, said Col. Christopher Seymour, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 26 out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. The belly gun has not been necessary, he said. In fact, many squadrons in Afghanistan fly without it because, at 800-plus pounds, it cuts into its cargo-carrying capability.

An Osprey can carry 12,000 pounds in 70-degree weather, but just 8,000 to 8,500 pounds when temperatures spike above 107 degrees. So with the belly gun in tow, the aircraft can carry fewer Marines and less water, ammo and food on resupply missions.

The belly gun is one component of what’s formally known as the Interim Defensive Weapon System, or IDWS, that also includes an infrared camera capable of target acquisition or surveillance and reconnaissance. There are eight in the Corps’ arsenal right now, and plans to field 24 more starting in June, officials said.

That plan might seem unnecessary, as the gun hasn’t seen any action during its two years in the war zone, but Seymour sees it playing a potentially significant role in time. As the Corps renews its emphasis on smaller-scale, expeditionary operations, future missions could include anti-piracy ops, personnel or hostage extraction and raids into foreign countries, he said. In such instances, Ospreys will operate more independently.

“We haven’t really had the opportunity yet to explore how we innovate the use of IDWS in those environments and mission sets,” Seymour said, calling it “a segue and an enabler” for future opportunities. “I don’t think we have discovered all the things we are going to be able to do with the IDWS.”

And Seymour was firm on this point: The Osprey will need its own firepower because it flies faster than the Corps’ other armed rotary-wing aircraft. MAG-26 is the Corps’ only all-Osprey group. It has one training squadron and six operational squadrons, which have made 14 combat deployments. When they have trained with the IDWS, it has shown to be accurate and powerful, Seymour said.

The infrared targeting system is aimed by a crew chief using a video game-like controller. Its video screen, however, was criticized early on by some gunners who claimed that trying to acquire targets as the Osprey maneuvered brought on feelings of nausea.

A Marine spokesman at the Pentagon, Capt. Brian Block, acknowledged there is anecdotal evidence that is true. But Seymour said he is unaware of such complaints. Air sickness, he said, can happen to any passenger or crewmember.

Block noted also that even though the IDWS belly gun has seen zero use in Afghanistan, the infrared camera has proved valuable on several missions as a reconnaissance and surveillance tool.

The Osprey’s speed, however, remains its biggest asset, Marine officials maintain. When flying in airplane mode, it can reach speeds of 350 mph. An AH-1W Super Cobra, by contrast, tops out at 170 mph.

But with the ability to travel faster and farther than any of the Corps’ armed helicopters, it will need a way to defend itself on long-range missions.

What’s next

Ospreys could be tapped for operating in what Commandant Gen. Jim Amos describes as the “arc of instability.” This is a band stretching across the globe where small-scale conflicts could threaten U.S. interests. Countries range from Venezuela to Nigeria to the Philippines. During possible quick missions to these countries, the Osprey won’t always have the same fire support it does today in Afghanistan. And the Corps is planning accordingly.

Some of the new IDWS systems will soon see service during deployments with Marine expeditionary units. The 24th MEU, for example, employed belly-gun-equipped Ospreys for Bold Alligator 2012, a combined-arms exercise off the East Coast from Jan. 30 through Feb. 12. It was part of the unit’s pre-deployment certification. When its pump begins in the spring, the MEU will deploy to the Mediterranean and the Middle East regions, with IDWS in tow.

“I think where we are really going to make money with it is in that expeditionary or amphibious role,” Seymour said.

IDWS isn’t a permanent solution, however, and the Osprey could see the same evolution as the Vietnam-era Huey did. For now, the Osprey’s primary role remains assault support, Similarly, the Huey started out as a transport helo but later became a heavily armed gunship. That’s a possibility for the Osprey, Seymour said.

“I think the IDWS is the beginning of a lot of added capabilities onto a platform that is extremely unique,” he said.

Any next-generation weapons system is probably at least a decade away, Seymour predicted. But there are some ideas being evaluated.

“Nose guns, door guns, and nonlethal countermeasures are being studied,” Block said. “These systems are being evaluated as stand-alone systems and as systems in conjunction with the current ramp-mounted weapon system and IDWS, to provide a final solution to the V-22 all-quadrant defensive weapon system.”

Development of the new weapon system is a collaborative effort between the V-22 program office and the Advanced Tactical Aircraft Protection Systems program office at Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Md., as well as the Naval Postgraduate School, based in Monterey Calif., and the Office of Naval Research headquartered in Arlington, Va.

As yet, there is no timeline for development, Block said.