Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey #7

The Bell-Boeing, MV-22B Osprey is the primary assault support aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps. The Marine Corps V-22B variant is an assault... more

by Arthur Eggers

Title

Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey #7

Artist

Arthur Eggers

Medium

Digital Art - Color Print

Description

The Bell-Boeing, MV-22B Osprey is the primary assault support aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps. The Marine Corps V-22B variant is an assault transport for troops, equipment and supplies, capable of operating from ships or expeditionary airfields ashore; replacing the Marine Corps' CH-46E and CH-53D fleets. The Osprey is unique in that it uses two engines positioned on fixed wing tips housed in nacelles that rotate to allow the MV-22B to land and take off vertically, but achieve much faster flight than a helicopter by tilting the nacelles forward while in flight in a configuration similar to a fixed-wing aircraft. The U.S. Marine Corps began crew training for the Osprey in 2000, and fielded it in 2007. Since March 2000, VMMT-204 has conducted Marine Corps crew training for the MV-22B. The MV-22B reached initial operational capability (IOC) with the Marine Corps on 13 June 2007. On 13 April 2007, the Marine Corps announced the first MV-22B combat deployment at Al Asad Airbase, Iraq. By July 2008, the MV-22B had flown 3,000 sorties totaling 5,200 hours in Iraq. The MV-22B deployed to Afghanistan in November 2009 with VMM-261 and saw its first offensive combat mission, Operation Cobra's Anger, on 4 December 2009. In November 2014, three MV-22Bs were placed on alert at Al Jaber Air Base in Kuwait to be ready within 30 minutes to recover downed pilots during the Military intervention against ISIL.

Uploaded

November 7th, 2015