Just What Iraq Needs

In news from Danger Room, David Axe mentions that Ospreys Iraq-Bound and I had seen this from Associated Press:

The Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 and 10 Ospreys left Monday from New River Air Station next to Camp Lejeune aboard the USS Wasp, Marine Maj. Eric Dent said. A typical Osprey squadron has roughly 200 Marines.

USS Wasp and the other vessels in her class are some of the handiest things around as they have great search and rescue capabilities in addition to their primary military purpose. These are the vessels of choice if there is a disaster with water access. The USS Bataan could have done great things in New Orleans after Katrina if the Hedgemony had allowed it.

OTOH, I really viscerally dislike the V-22 Osprey. It is an overpriced, under-performing gadget, that requires three concurrent computer systems to fly. It is going to be a easy target, if it manages not to fall apart in desert conditions, as it has to stop in flight to transition for landing.

I admit that I haven’t had one fall on my house yet, but it is early. Les Aspin, a Democrat, is responsible for keeping this Franken-flyer from being axed, as it should have been a decade ago. It isn’t an osprey, it is an albatross, a bird incapable of a graceful landing or take-off.

In other news, Noah Shachtman’s recent trip to the sandbox revealed that Red Tape Grounds Iraq’s Robo-Planes. We have been spending millions on UAVs, and they are no use to the troops because the “powers that be” want you to file a flight before using them. If they have the intel required to know a couple of days in advance where the drones would need to fly, they would needn’t to fly them.