The Marines are aiming to make their MV-22 Ospreys more lethal and faster, the service’s top aviator said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Marine Corps is testing a variety of weapons and sensors on its tiltrotor aircraft in order to get the most out of the platform, said Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, deputy commandant for aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’re looking at the same kinds of systems as you’d find in the UH-1Y [Venom and AH-1] Cobras,” he said during a panel discussion at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference outside Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those helicopters are often equipped with mounted guns and missile launchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
The Hellfire missile \u2014 the mainstay of the Navy’s SH-60 Seahawk and Knighthawk helicopters \u2014 is being looked at for the Osprey, Davis said. Additionally, he said the laser-guided GBU-44\/B Viper Strike bomb and the lightweight AGM-176 Griffin, which can be fired as a missile or deployed as a guided bomb, are also being considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So far, Davis said they’ve tested a laser-guided designator in the Osprey’s nose and different munitions that can be loaded onto the aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Marine Corps’ 2015 aviation plan called for outfitting Ospreys with “enhanced weapon systems” to increase standoff and precision capabilities. The plan stated that Marine crisis response units,\u00a0like the land-based forces that\u00a0respond to emergencies in Africa and the Middle East, would use the\u00a0armed V-22s. Those units have provided security support and evacuation assistance at embassies in Iraq, South Sudan and Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aircraft, that can take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a plane, is one of the busiest in the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Davis acknowledged that getting the air crew to run a weapon systems while flying the aircraft could be an added burden, but added that Marines would adapt quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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