"Kerryn Offord" wrote in message
...
Mike wrote:
USNI Proceedings Magazine
Issue: October 2007 Vol. 133/10/1,256

The Osprey Goes to War
By Richard Whittle
SNIP
"I don't think it's going to be any more vulnerable than the 46 or the
53," Glueck said. A CH-46 can "usually come into a zone a little bit
quicker than the 53s. The V-22 is kind of in between the two."

***
Maybe no more vulnerable to being shot at.. but the effect of being hit?


The V-22 will have fighter or helicopter gunship escorts when going
into zones where there's a known threat, Glueck said, and the Marines
have mounted a 7.62-caliber M240G machine gun on the rear ramp. The
Osprey also has chaff dispensers, infrared suppressors, and electronic
defenses.
SNIP

If it has a cobra escort.. Well.. It loses it's altitude/ speed advantage
over alternative modern helicopters..

Can the V-22 fly "like a plane" with the ramp down? At what penalty?

I know the CH47 has a MG on the rear ramp, but that's a wider, bigger
ramp.. How much of an obstruction is it for troops trying to get out in a
hot LZ?

I imagine (would guess) there is an airspeed limit with the ramp down (gun
in place to be fired),
probably in the range of 175 to 130 knots, above that the ramp would have
to be up at least level
to keep it from acting like a stabilator and pushing the nose down.

Remember this is an aircraft with it's center of gravity at the wing.

The CH-47 has 3 Machine guns mounted on it, one in the right door , one
in the left forward window,
and one on the ramp. 160th SOAR CH-47's use miniguns in the forward
stations, and an M2 .50 Cal on the ramp floor.

On the CH-47 the ramp gun can be quickly removed using a quick disconnect
mount.

The ramp gun on the MV-22 is side mounted on a 2 piece flex mount, and it
can be quickly swung to the right side out of the
way of troops exiting the aircraft, after pulling a quick release lock.


Helomech