LIMITED NUMBER OF AIRFRAMES DELAYING ýSUSTAINED CV-22 DEPLOYMENTSý

Inside the Air Force - 2/13/2009ý
Despite approaching IOC date . . . ý
LIMITED NUMBER OF AIRFRAMES DELAYING ýSUSTAINED CV-22 DEPLOYMENTSý
Air Force Special Operations Command does not have enough aircraft in
its fleet of CV-22 ýOsprey tiltrotors to embark on sustained overseas
deployments despite the fact that the aircraft’s ýinitial operational
capability date is rapidly approaching, according to AFSOC officials.
“Once we ýdeclare IOC, that does not necessarily mean that we can
sustain an indefinite deployment” ýsimilar to the Marine Corps’
ongoing MV-22 deployments to Iraq, said Col. Buck Elton, AFSOC’s
ýchief strategic planner, after giving a Feb. 11 speech at a special
operations conference in ýWashington. While the Air Force’s 8th
Special Operations Squadron recently flew four of its CV-ýý22s to
Africa for a three-week deployment, the shortage of available
aircraft, parts, aircrew and ýmaintainers means that the command
cannot forward deploy for months at a time -- something ýthat may be
required for the planes to conduct sustained combat operations in
regions like the ýMiddle East, according to Elton. “One of the
challenges is to make certain that we have enough ýparts and enough
maintainers and enough crews to sustain a deployment and to sustain a
long-ýterm Iraqi deployment you have to have more than one set,” said
Elton. AFSOC operates less ýCV-22s than the number of MV-22s operated
by the Marine Corps in Iraq. The Air Force’s total ýof seven
operational CV-22s is simply not enough to allow the command to deploy
the aircraft ýwhile maintaining Osprey units’ training and maintenance
schedules, according to Elton. “When ýmy pilots hit a normal rotation
and my maintenance guys hit a normal rotation at three years, ýthere’s
no place [for them] to rotate to,” said the former MH-53 Pave Low
pilot. “I need to have a ýlarger number [of aircraft] and a larger
number of places for them to rotate to.” Right now, ýAFSOC has seven
operational CV-22s at Hurlburt Field, FL, and another four used for
training at ýKirtland Air Force Base, NM, according to Elton. The
command will not have “large numbers” of ýOspreys until the end of
fiscal year 2011, said Elton. The tiltrotor is expected to reach IOC
ýsometime this year, and the command is hoping to have its entire
complement of 50 CV-22s by ýý2015. AFSOC has requested additional
money to accelerate its purchase of CV-22s to eight ýaircraft per year
starting in FY-10. At the same time, the Obama administration has
directed the ýDefense Department to conduct a a whole-scale review of
the Pentagon’s FY-10 budget that will ýresult in realignments and
possible cuts to numerous weapon systems. The V-22 program of ýrecord
has a total of 50 CV-22s to be delivered to the Air Force, 360 MV-22s
to the Marines and ýý48 V-22s to the Navy.ý