Marine_ A Guided Tour Of A Marine Expeditionary Unit Part 8

A pair of Marine AV-8B Harrier IIs operate on the deck of the USS Wasp Wasp (LHD-1) during operations in a Norwegian fjord in 1994. (LHD-1) during operations in a Norwegian fjord in 1994.

OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTO.

During the first week of the air war, Harriers carried one or two Sidewinders for self-defense, but the Iraqi Air Force was neutralized so quickly that no Harrier pilot even saw an enemy aircraft. Of eighty-six Harriers that operated over Kuwait, five were lost to enemy ground fire during the war, and one to a non-combat accident. Since they had experienced the joys of Yuma, Arizona, and Cherry Point, North Carolina, the desert heat of Saudi Arabia was nothing special to the Harrier squadrons, and there were remarkably few problems caused by the blowing powdery sand. In total, Harriers flew 9,353 sorties during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, including 3,380 combat missions, which delivered almost six million pounds of ordnance onto enemy targets. During the war, Harriers rarely flew more than two missions in a day, due to the bad weather.

During Desert Storm, the Harrier was largely limited to its designed role as a daylight/clear-weather aircraft, due to its lack of radar or precision-targeting electro-optical systems. Since wars don't stop at night or take breaks for bad weather, this was a serious limitation. Beginning in mid-1987 (with initial deliveries in September 1989), sixty AV-8Bs have been converted to Night Harriers through the installation of an FLIR sensor and new c.o.c.kpit lighting compatible with night-vision goggles. The FLIR, mounted in a fairing above the nose of the aircraft, projects a green-and-white video image on the pilot's heads-up display (HUD). A color digital moving map display, using data stored on a laser disc, eliminates the ha.s.sle of fumbling with paper charts in a dark c.o.c.kpit.

Even better things were to follow. With the Sea Harrier, the Royal Navy had already demonstrated that it was possible to fit a radar in the Harrier's nose. With the Harrier II Plus, McDonnell Douglas engineers did not just settle for a simple range-only or air-search radar. They essentially redesigned the airframe to accommodate the powerful Hughes APG-65, the same multi-mode radar used on the F/A-18 Hornet. This means that in the fall of 1996, the Harrier force will add the mighty AIM-120 AMRAAM missile to their weapons suite, making it one of the most dangerous birds in the sky. Since the radar adds some 900 lb/408 kg of weight, and extends the airframe by 17 in./43 cm, a completely new fuselage was fabricated, and a new engine installed. The last twenty-four production Harrier IIs were built to the Plus standard. After that, additional aircraft will be "remanufactured." To save money, the wing, tail surfaces, landing gear, ejection seats, and other major components of existing AV-8 Bs are being recycled to produce a new aircraft, at about two-thirds the cost of manufacturing a completely new aircraft. Italy (sixteen aircraft) and Spain (eight aircraft) are sharing in the development cost and production of the Harrier II Plus, under an agreement signed in September 1990. The Marine Corps plans to remanufacture seventy-three airframes to the II Plus configuration. The first Harrier II Plus made its inaugural flight on September 22nd, 1992.

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A Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) just before launch from the deck of a U.S. Navy ship. A small rocket motor ignites, powering the craft until the cruise motor takes over.

OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTO.

Harriers will remain in service with the Marines well into the 21st century. Most likely, they will gradually be replaced sometime after 2010 by a variant of the Air Force/Navy STOVL joint strike fighter (JSF), which is currently in the early stages of development. Between now and then, the variety of weapons loads and mission capabilities are due to greatly increase. For example, there will soon be a compet.i.tion for a laser targeting/designation pod for the centerline stores station, which will allow the Harrier to employ laser guided bombs and missiles by itself.

Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) They used to be called "drones" or "remote controlled" (R/C) aircraft. Today we call them UAVs ("unmanned aerial vehicles") to emphasize that they operate without a human pilot on board. The idea of a pilotless aircraft makes many pilots feel uneasy. ("This machine wants your job ... and it might cause a mid-air.") Since pilots become the Generals and Admirals who call the shots in military aviation, UAVs have had to overcome deeply entrenched inst.i.tutional resistance to win acceptance. All the same, the advantages of a UAV are obvious. For one thing, compared to a manned aircraft, it can be made very small and cheap. For another, advances in software and miniaturized electronics have made it possible to provide relatively "intelligent" autopilots. And the development of miniaturized video cameras in stabilized mountings ("steadicams") provides high-resolution imagery, day or night. Even if the enemy manages to shoot one down, it makes a lousy hostage.

In early 1996 the Pioneer is the only UAV operational with the U.S. Navy, Army, and Marine Corps. Pioneer was developed in the 1970s by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), and it played a key role in the 1982 Bekaa Valley air campaign, in which the Israeli Defense Forces utterly smashed Syria's advanced Soviet-made integrated air-defense system. In 1985, following our own miserable experience in Lebanon, Secretary of the Navy John Lehman ordered the immediate procurement of an off-the-shelf UAV, to be carried on board the newly reactivated and modernized Iowa-cla.s.s battleships, where they were to be used for gunfire spotting, reconnaissance, and battle-damage a.s.sessment, which had so far been impossible in Lebanon. Pioneer won the compet.i.tion, and entered service with the fleet late in 1986. The following year, the Marine Corps procured additional Pioneers to operate from LPDs or mobile ground bases. In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, six Pioneer units deployed to the Persian Gulf, flying some 523 missions. One of these unmanned aircraft earned a unique place in aviation history when an Iraqi unit attempted to surrender to it.

Pioneer has a wingspan of 17 ft/5.2 m, and a length of 14 ft/4.3 m, Empty weight is only 2641b/120 kg, and maximum takeoff weight is 4291b/195 kg. A 26-hp 2-stroke piston engine drives the pusher-type wooden propeller, located between twin tail booms. The engine also drives an electrical generator to power the sensor package, flight controls, and data link. Pioneer can reach a ceiling of 15,000 ft/4,600 m, but missions are generally flown at 3.280 ft/1,000 m or less. Top speed is 110 kt/204 kph, but the normal cursing speed is 65 kt/120 kph. Mission endurance is around five hours, allowing a tactical mission radius of about 100 nm/185 km. Fuel capacity is 12 gal/49 L of 100-octane aviation gasoline, mixed with a small amount of motor oil. Pioneer breaks down easily into modular components for storage in rugged shipping containers, which the crews call "bird boxes." For shipboard operations, Pioneer requires a rocket-a.s.sisted takeoff, which needs very little deck s.p.a.ce. For ground operation, there is a truck-mounted pneumatic catapult. At the end of a shipboard mission, Pioneer is flown into a nylon recovery net rigged on the fantail of the ship, like a big volleyball net. When a runway is available, it can make a normal takeoff or landing on its fixed tricycle landing gear.

Pioneer can carry one of two standard electro-optical payloads, either of which can be swapped out in about an hour. The day package includes a stabilized, turret-mounted monochrome video camera with a full zoom. A full-color camera has been proposed as an upgrade, trading off contrast for color information. Color might also require a data link with higher bandwidth. The night package includes a high-resolution FLIR system, which can zoom to fixed lengths, and can be switched between "white hot" and "black hot" display modes. The radio command and data link uses the spread-spectrum technique, which is highly resistant to jamming. Since Pioneer is constructed from lightweight composite materials, it has a very low radar cross-section. It is equipped with a standard Mode 3 IFF transponder, allowing friendly aircraft to track it and avoid airs.p.a.ce conflicts. The system software automatically displays the time and date, geographic coordinates, and range to target on the imagery transmitted over the data link. It also generates symbology showing the aircraft flight direction and att.i.tude, similar to the HUD (Heads-Up Display) of a fighter aircraft, but much simpler.

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A Marine UH-1N a.s.signed to the 26th MEU (SOC)'s HMM-264. The "IFOR" markings indicate that the unit was recently part of NATO's Bosnia "Implementation" Peacekeeping force.

JOHN D. GRESHAM.

Four Landing a.s.sault Ships (LPDs) are currently equipped to operate Pioneer. A UAV detachment consists of about thirty personnel and five air vehicles. The control station is an air-conditioned shelter with separate consoles for the flight operator and the sensor operator, who work under the supervision of a mission commander. The flight operator hands off control of an aircraft to a remote Portable Control Station for landings and recovery. A tracking technician operates the tracking and communication system, which requires a pole antenna and a steerable dish antenna, which may be installed on the ship, or mounted on a light truck. A recording technician operates the videoca.s.sette recorders, which can feed their signals to other ships and ground stations.

Pioneer has suffered some reliability problems due largely to insufficient procurement of spare parts. In operation, Pioneers often suffer minor damage when they hit the recovery net, and the complex sensor packages demand highly skilled maintenance. Nevertheless, they have proven to be invaluable national a.s.sets. So much so that additional vehicles are about to be procured. The Pioneer system will continue to serve well into the 21st century. The prime contractor is Pioneer UAV, Inc., a joint venture of Israel Aircraft Industries and AAI Corporation, located in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

Bell-Textron UH-1N Twin Harvey Every American war has its distinctive icons in our collective historical imagination. For the Civil War, it's the forage cap and the 12-pounder bronze smoothbore "Napoleon" cannon. For the Second World War, it's the Sherman tank and the GI helmet. For Vietnam it's the "boonie hat" and the Bell UH-1 helicopter. Officially it's called the Iroquois, because the Army insists that helicopters should be named after Indian tribes. But to the troops, it will always be simply the "Huey." Based on a 1955 Army design compet.i.tion, the UH-1 made its maiden flight on October 22nd 1956. Over eleven thousand have been produced in a dozen major models and countless variants. In 1996 it remains in production around the world.

A major factor in the longevity of an aircraft design is the ability of the airframe to accommodate more powerful engines. No pilot worth his or her wings ever thinks an aircraft has enough thrust or lift. The initial batch of production Hueys had an anemic (by current standards) 700-hp Lycoming turboshaft engine. The current model has a pair of Pratt and Whitneys, each rated at 900 hp each, but with burst transmission power rating of up to 1,290 hp.

Originally intended as an angel of mercy for battlefield casualty evacuation, the Huey proved to be a jack-of-all-trades, providing a bird's-eye view of the battlefield for commanders and forward observers, ferrying troops in and out of hot landing zones, hauling cargo to mountaintop fire bases, and serving as a platform for door-mounted machine guns and rockets. Hueys are currently the only aircraft being used by all four services--the USAF still uses a small number for VIP transport, missile range safety, and support of remote missile silos. The first Huey designed for the Marine Corps was the UH-1E, which entered service with MAG-26 in February 1964. It was equipped with an uprated 1,400-hp engine, a rescue hoist, improved electronics, and a rotor brake (to lock the rotor in position, fore and aft, for shipboard parking).

The current Marine version is the UH-1N, which was introduced in 1971, of which 111 remain in inventory. The pilot and copilot are supplemented for combat missions by a pair of door gunners manning 7.62mm or .50-cal. machine guns. Their primary mission is to act as a command and control platform for MEF and MEU (SOC) commanders. To this end, a special communications package can be fitted to the Marine Huey for use by a task force commander. The Marines figure the current upgrade cost at $4.7 million. The big news about the Huey these days is the planned upgrade program, which will be combined with a similar upgrade for the AH-1W Cobra attack helicopter. Beyond that, current plans have the UH-1N serving until about 2020, when a command and control version of the new V-22 Osprey will probably take over the job.

Bell Textron AH-1W Cobra Attack Helicopter "There were many airplanes, but it was the skinny bird that scared us the most." --Iraqi POW Debriefed after Desert Storm --Iraqi POW Debriefed after Desert Storm The Iraqis called it the "skinny bird." The Marines call it "Whiskey Cobra." "Whiskey" is the military phonetic code for the letter W. Whatever you call it, it's one of the most lethal and versatile flying machines on the battlefield, the Bell Textron AH-1 W Cobra. The origins of the attack helicopter can be traced back to the long, b.l.o.o.d.y colonial war in Algeria in the 1950s, where the French Army experimentally rigged guns up to 20mm to their light Alouette helicopters. In Vietnam, the U.S. Army carried out similar experiments with automatic weapons and rocket pods on various models of the Huey. It soon became obvious that hitting a moving target from a moving helicopter required some kind of fire-control system more sophisticated than the Mark 1 human eyeball. It was also clear that the workload of flying a helicopter, especially when people on the ground were shooting back, made it necessary to divide the combat tasks between a pilot and a gunner. As helicopter losses mounted, it was also clear that to survive, a gunship would need to present the smallest possible target, and carry as much protective armor as the engine(s) could lift.

A Marine AH-1W Cobra attack helicopter of HMM-264 conducts a low-level run during an exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

JOHN D. GRESHAM.

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The result was the Army's original AH-1G Cobra (Army aviators call it "The Snake"). This used the engine, transmission, and rotor of the Huey, installed in a very narrow fuselage, with a gunner seated in the forward c.o.c.kpit and the pilot seated behind and above him. Two stub wings provided mounting points for rockets and machine-gun pods, and a nose-mounted turret provided room for a machine gun, or 40mm grenade launcher. The Marines were sufficiently impressed with the new birds to ask for the loan of thirty-eight Army Cobras, which were pressed into service for Vietnam. Experience with these early Cobras convinced Marine aviators that they needed more power, which meant a second engine. Shipboard operation also required adding a rotor brake, which locked the rotor in the fore-and-aft position for reduced stowage s.p.a.ce. Designated the AH-1J Sea Cobra, the aircraft was upgunned with a three-barrel rotary 20mm cannon mounted in a power-driven chin turret, allowing the gunner to fire on targets up to 110deg off the nose.

The Sea Cobra entered service in 1971 with HMA-269, and sixty-nine aircraft were eventually delivered. An improved version, designated AH-1T was stretched 3 ft, 7 in./ 1.1 m to provide additional internal fuel. It was also equipped to launch the TOW ant.i.tank missile. This led to the ultimate Cobra design, the AH-1W "Super Cobra," which entered service early in 1986, powered by two GE T700 engines rated at 1,690 hp each. Maximum level speed is 175 kt/320 kph, and the maximum range with internal fuel is 395 mi/636 km. The Whiskey Cobra has a laser range finder and stabilized optical system mounted in the nose, carries chaff and flare launchers, and has a "Black Hole" IR signature-suppression system that mixes outside air with the hot engine exhaust. Up to eight TOW or h.e.l.lfire missiles can be carried. The stub wings can even be fitted with launch rails for the AIM-9 Sidewinder, enabling Cobra to engage enemy helicopters or aircraft. By 1996, over one hundred new aircraft had been delivered, while more than 42 older "-1T" birds have been upgraded to the AH-1 W configuration. They serve with six operational squadrons and a training unit, HMT-303 at Camp Pendleton, California.

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A Marine CH-46E Sea Knight transport helicopter of HMM-264 gets ready for engine start on the deck of the USS Wasp Wasp (LHD-1). Also known as the "Bullfrog," this elderly bird will be replaced in the 21st century by the MV-22B Osprey tilt-motor transport. (LHD-1). Also known as the "Bullfrog," this elderly bird will be replaced in the 21st century by the MV-22B Osprey tilt-motor transport.

JOHN D. GRESHAM.

During Desert Storm, the typical weapons load was a pair of LAU-68 rocket pods on the inboard pylons, with anti-tank missiles outboard. Marine Cobras played a key role in the battle of Khafji, decimating Iraqi armor. One Marine commander watched in amazement as an Iraqi artillery round detonated directly underneath a hovering Cobra. The helicopter shuddered and continued its mission. Despite sand-storms and salt fog, the Super Cobra maintained a 92% mission-readiness rate, 24% better than the Army's more complex (and much better publicized) AH-64A Apache, which required continuous support by civilian contractor technicians.

Current plans for upgrading the Whiskey Cobra will extend the service life of the fleet until at least 2020. One goal is to achieve commonality of engine, transmission, and other systems between the AH-1W and the UH-1N, thereby reducing maintenance costs and spare parts inventories. Key changes will include a new composite four-bladed rotor for improved agility and lower noise and vibration levels, an improved night-targeting system (NTS) based on an Israeli design, and numerous digital c.o.c.kpit display improvements to reduce the pilot and gunner workload. The NTS system is designed to provide Marine Cobra crews with the same kind of FLIR and laser-designation system that is carried by the AH-64A Apache and OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. This means that it will be able to self-designate for delivery of h.e.l.lfire missiles, or even Paveway laser-guided bombs. By the time the program is completed, it will mean that the Cobra fleet will remain viable into the second decade of the 21st century. By that time, an attack version of the V-22 Osprey is a likely development, and may finally replace this cla.s.sic warbird.

Boeing Vertol CH-46E Sea Knight In the late 1940s, a visionary group of young Marine officers began to explore the possibilities that rapidly evolving helicopter technology offered for amphibious a.s.sault. They called the new concept "vertical envelopment." As the main landing force came ash.o.r.e over the beach, small helicopter-borne detachments would seize key terrain and blocking positions deep behind the enemy's coastal defenses. Something like this had been tried with parachute and glider-borne infantry in the Normandy invasion, but the confused and scattered night drop had nearly turned into a disaster. During the Korean War, the small numbers of fragile piston-engined helicopters available had proved their value in medical evacuation of the injured and battlefield observation for commanders. But it took the development of helicopters powered by turbine engines in the early 1960s to make the dream of vertical envelopment a reality.

Forbidden to operate its own fixed-wing armed aircraft, the U.S. Army adopted helicopters enthusiastically, developing a doctrine called airmobile warfare. It was an expensive way to fight a war, though. By one estimate, over four thousand American helicopters were shot down in Vietnam while practicing airmobile warfare. One of the helicopters very much present in Vietnam was the CH-46E, the now-aging workhorse of Marine helicopters. "Sea Knight" may be the official nickname, but Marines call them Bullfrogs. The aircraft entered service with Marine Medium Helicopter (HMM-265) in June 1964. The Navy and Marine Corps procured a total of 624 units, which served through the Vietnam War and in every Marine operation since then. Production ended in 1977, and the current inventory is 242 aircraft. Despite the best maintenance and several service-life extensions, these machines are quite simply worn out. They continue in service today with 15 HMMs, for lack of any replacement. However, when the V-22 Osprey finally enters service they will be retired rapidly.

The CH-46 is a twin-engine, twin-rotor design, which eliminates the need for a tail rotor. The three-bladed fibergla.s.s rotors rotate in opposite directions, and are designed to fold for shipboard storage. Each General Electric T-58-16 turboshaft engine is rated at 1770 horsepower. Both engines are mounted side by side above the tail, leaving the cabin relatively un.o.bstructed, and incredibly noisy. The transmission is cross-connected, so that in case of damage or failure on one engine, the remaining engine can drive both rotors, albeit with vastly less performance. Marines enter and exit through a loading ramp at the rear, or forward pa.s.sengers doors on either side. Maximum speed is 161 kt/259 kph, and since the fuselage is unpressurized, the maximum practical alt.i.tude is about 14,000 ft/4,267 m. The cabin is watertight, and can safely land in choppy seas, but this is an emergency procedure, not a normal operational technique.

A normal flight crew includes pilot, copilot, crew chief, and mechanic. On combat missions, the mechanic is replaced by two door gunners, and up to twenty additional troops can theoretically be carried. The gradual increase in overall weight, due to the addition of defensive electronic countermeasures, armor, and reinforced structure, has seriously reduced the actual carrying capacity of the surviving aircraft. In matter of fact, only eight to twelve loaded troops can be carried. For medical evacuation missions, the capacity is fifteen litters and two corpsmen. Up to 5,000 lb/2270 kg of cargo can be carried as an external sling load. Officially, the combat radius is given as 75 nm/139 km, but in practice the aircraft are limited to about 50 nm/91 km from their mother ship. As for the future, there will be one more planned upgrade of the Bullfrog fleet to keep it going until the MV-22 Osprey arrives in the early 21st century. Only then will the n.o.ble CH-46 take its place as a "gate guard" for Marine bases around the world.

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A CH-53E Super Stallion heavy transport helicopter of HMM-264 pulls up and away after takeoff. The CH-53E is the fastest and most powerful helicopter currently in Marine service.

JOHN D. GRESHAM.

Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion Helicopter "When the balloon goes up, commanders turn to the CH-53 to get the job done. We have seen this in the Gulf War, Somalia, Rwanda, and most recently with the rescue of Captain Scott O'Grady in Bosnia." --Marine Officer's Letter in U.S. Naval Inst.i.tute --Marine Officer's Letter in U.S. Naval Inst.i.tute Proceedings, Proceedings, February 1995 February 1995 One of the star aerial performers in the Vietnam War was an Air Force adaptation of a big Navy helicopter, Sikorsky's HH-3 "Jolly Green Giant." These served with units like the 37th Aeros.p.a.ce Rescue and Recovery Squadron, flying deep into enemy jungle and mountain areas to rescue crash survivors, often under fire. Apparently, to survive on the battlefield, it isn't enough just to be agile and smart; a helicopter needs to be big and tough. The Marines were impressed enough with the HH-3 to order a new heavy a.s.sault helicopter, the CH-53A "Sea Stallion," which combined the Jolly Green Giant's fuselage and basic design with the twin engines and heavy-duty transmission of the Army's monster CH-54 Tarhe "flying crane." The Sea Stallion first flew on October 14th, 1964, and entered service with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 463 in November 1966. When production of the basic Stallion ended in 1980, the Navy and Marine Corps had taken delivery of 384 aircraft, and additional Stallions were serving with the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Austria, Germany, Iran, and Israel. By that time though, a second-generation Stallion was in the works, and was ready to enter production, the CH-53E Super Stallion.

The Sikorsky CH-53E is both big and tough. You want redundant systems? How about three engines? And how about seven rotor blades, with main spars forged from t.i.tanium? You need to fit a big helicopter on a small deck? How about folding rotor blades and a hinged tail boom, which together reduce the overall length (including rotors) from 99 ft/30.2 m down to 60 ft, 6 in./18.4m! The landing gear is fully retractable and the fuselage is watertight, in case of an emergency landing at sea. An in-flight refueling probe provides almost unlimited potential range, as long as an appropriate tanker aircraft (such as a KC-130 Hercules) is available. The cargo hook can handle an external sling load of up to 36,000 1b/16,330 kg, which means that a LAV or M198 howitzer can be delivered by air. With a sixteen-ton load, the combat radius is 50 nm/92.5 km, though this increases to 500 nm/926 km with a ten-ton sling load. No radar or FLIR is fitted, but the crews train to operate with night-vision goggles. In addition, no armament is permanently fitted, though machine gunners can easily rig machine guns to fire from the forward crew door and either side of the open rear loading ramp. The normal crew consists of a pilot, copilot, and crew chief. Up to fifty-five fully loaded troops can be carried in reasonable discomfort on folding canvas seats. A pa.s.senger tip, though: Don't sit directly under the rotor head, where the transmission tends to drip hot hydraulic oil.

An artists concept of the McDonnell Douglas/Northrup Grumman/British Aeros.p.a.ce Marine STOVL Joint Strike Fighter entry. This aircraft is designed to replace both the AV-8B Harrier and F/A-18 Hornet for the Marine Corps, as well as the Royal Navy Harrier FRS.2s.

McDONNELL DOUGLAS AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS [image]

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An HMM-264 CH-53E sits fully folded on the port elevator of the USS Wasp. Wasp. lost Marine helicopters have some capability to fold their rotors to save s.p.a.ce on ship. lost Marine helicopters have some capability to fold their rotors to save s.p.a.ce on ship.

JOHN D. GRESHAM.

The Marines have a requirement for 183 of these mission-critical birds, of which 155 had been delivered by the end of 1995, and production continues at a low rate of four per year. Eleven also have been built for the j.a.panese Maritime Self-Defense Force under license by Mitsubishi. With a SLEP underway, the Super Stallions are expected to serve until about 2025. By any measure--range, payload, speed, or survivability--the CH-53E is an awesome hunk of aeronautical technology. Back in the days when money was no object, the Soviet Union managed to produce a bigger troop-carrying helicopter, the Mi-26 "Halo." But n.o.body has ever built a better one.

The Future: Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) During the 1950s the United States built over a thousand B-47 medium bombers. During the 1990s, the most bitter and protracted budget battles managed to provide only twenty-one B-2A stealth bombers, each costing more than a billion dollars. More aircraft have been killed by cost overruns in the design and development stage than have ever been downed by enemy guns and missiles, pilot errors, or engine flameouts. Projecting the trend into the 21st century, industry observers sometimes joke about a future when the entire defense budget will only suffice to purchase one aircraft; Air Force pilots will be allowed to fly it Monday through Thursday, Navy aviators on Friday and Sat.u.r.day, and the Marines on alternate Sundays, if it isn't down for maintenance.

With these depressing realities in mind, there are two technical approaches to making a high-performance aircraft affordable. First, make it light. Every non-essential pound/kilogram imposes severe cost and performance penalties. The best example of how to make an aircraft light, simple, and advanced is the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk--Ed Heinemann's cla.s.sic 1951 design--a five-ton airplane designed to deliver a one-ton nuclear bomb with a single engine of 7,700 1b of thrust. Second, make it generic. That is, make a single basic airframe design serve the widest possible range of roles and missions. Beginning in the late 1980s, under the acronym JAST (Joint Advanced Strike Technologies), a Defense Department Program Office made a serious effort to push these approaches right to the "edge of the envelope." The aeros.p.a.ce industry, seeing the only opportunity for a major new program in the opening decades of the next century, responded with enthusiasm. Now called the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the program office is headed by a rear admiral, who reports to an Air Force a.s.sistant Secretary.

Pilots tend to be exceedingly suspicious of anything with the word "joint" attached to it, unless they are talking to an orthopedic surgeon about a sports injury. From an aviator's perspective, a "joint" aircraft is likely turn into a camel (i.e., a "horse designed by a committee"). The three services have radically different tactical doctrines and tribal cultures, and even the most brilliant design team will face a thicket of compromises in trying to fit one airframe to such widely different customers. If you are flying an aircraft into combat, you want that feeling of confidence that only comes from knowing that the designer made no compromises with anything, including the laws of physics. JSF's program managers, aware of this issue, are striving for a relatively modest goal-80%, "commonality" of major structural components and systems.

JSF is actually three aircraft. A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) model will replace the Air Force's F-16 Fighting Falcon, with a unit price target of $28 million, and an awesome procurement target of 1,874 units. A Navy version to replace the aging F-14 Tomcat and early F/A-18 Hornet types will have a strengthened fuselage structure and special landing gear for carrier operations, raising the unit cost to between $35 and $38 million, with a requirement for at least 300 units. The Marine version, to replace the Harrier, will be capable of short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL), at a unit price of $30-32 million. The Marines want 642 units. Three industry teams are competing for the contract. They include Boeing, McDonnell Douglas/Northrop Grumman/British Aeros.p.a.ce, and Lockheed Martin.

All the designs show a strong influence from the F-22 and F-23 advanced stealth fighter designs, with widely separated twin tail fins, splayed out at a sharp angle. The Boeing design has a hinged air scoop under the nose, which gives the aircraft an uncanny resemblance to a gasping fish. The inlet swings down to increase airflow to the engine at low speeds, and swings up to reduce overall drag at high speed. The twin exhaust nozzles rotate, just like on the Harrier. The McDonnell design looks like a slimmed-down F-23, with sharply swept wings mounted well aft. The Lockheed Martin design has a vertically mounted lift fan, driven during takeoff by power from the main engine, just behind the c.o.c.kpit. There are small canards (auxiliary wings) mounted just forward of the main wings, which closely resemble the diamond-shaped planform of the F-22. In effect, there will be as many as nine different prototype designs, all using the Pratt & Whitney F119 turbofan developed for the F-22. This was the first turbofan capable of supersonic cruise without use of a gas-guzzling afterburner. General Electric will also continue development of its F-120 engine, which was not selected in the F-22 compet.i.tion, but represents a viable alternative if F-119 development runs into difficulties.

A Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport begins the transition to forward flight following takeoff. The engines are beginning to tilt forward and the landing gear are retracting.

BELL HELICOPTER-TEXTRON.

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A prototype MV-22 Osprey on the USS Wasp Wasp (LHD-1) during compatibility trials. This aircraft has the wing and rotor blades fully folded in the fore-and-aft position to save stowage s.p.a.ce aboard ship. (LHD-1) during compatibility trials. This aircraft has the wing and rotor blades fully folded in the fore-and-aft position to save stowage s.p.a.ce aboard ship.

BELL HELICOPTER-TEXTRON.

For the JSF program, failure is not an option. Low-rate initial production is scheduled to begin in 2005, and deliveries to operational units are pegged for 2007. By that date, several generations of combat aircraft will be facing block obsolescence, even if we are lucky and no unexpected new threats emerge. Many types that are familiar sights in 1996 will have been prematurely retired, due to escalating maintenance and support costs, airframe fatigue, and normal peacetime attrition.

The Future: The Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey We call it a helicopter only because it takes off and lands vertically, but the V-22 Osprey really performs like a small C-130 Hercules transport. As for the importance of the program, the Osprey is designed to replace the entire fleet of CH-46 Sea Knights, which will be entering their fifth decade of service by the time that the V-22 arrives on the scene. It also represents the single biggest technological gamble in the history of the Marine Corps. On the strange wings of the Osprey, the Marines have bet not only their ability to conduct vertical envelopment a.s.saults, but the whole future of over-the-horizon/standoff amphibious warfare.

Ever since the Wright brothers began to fly heavier-than-air vehicles on the Atlantic sh.o.r.e at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, there has been a dream that you could build an airplane that would take off vertically like a helicopter and still fly like a conventional airplane. The Harrier represents one set of engineering compromises to achieve this, though at a high cost in range and payload. But even tougher to build than a fighter/bomber is a medium lift transport aircraft with the lifting performance of a CH-46 and the speed and range of a C-130 Hercules. Back in the 1950s the idea was put forth that perhaps you could place the engines of such an aircraft out on the ends of the wings, then tilt the engines in much the same way that the vectored thrust nozzles of the Harrier's Pegasus engine rotate. The first aircraft demonstrates this was the Bell XV-3, which flew in 1955, and spent eleven years testing out the tilt-rotor concept. Following this, NASA had Bell build a more advanced aircraft, the XV-15, which first flew in 1976. This incredible experimental aircraft's achievements are still legend in the flight-test world. It proved once and for all that a tilt rotor transport aircraft was not only possible, but would have some very desirable qualities.

Next came the multi-service Joint Vertical Experimental (JVX) requirement, for over five hundred tilt rotor transport aircraft for combat search and rescue (CSAR), special operations (SPECOPS), medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), and replacement of the entire fleet of CH-46 Sea Knights and CH-53D Sea Stallions. In 1983, a team of Bell-Textron and Boeing Vertol won the JVX contract for design and development of what would become known as the V-22 Osprey. Development continued throughout the 1980s, and appeared to be going well despite the usual glitches a.s.sociated with any new aircraft. Then, as a cost-cutting move, Secretary of Defense d.i.c.k Cheney abruptly canceled the entire program in 1989, leaving Bell Boeing with a big nothing for all their work, and all four of the services scrambling to find replacements for the Osprey. As it turned out, they never did, and this caused a small guerrilla movement to break out among the services to revive the V-22. As if this was not enough of a challenge, there were a pair of crashes by prototype V-22s (neither of which was design-related), which gave opponents lots of ammunition for keeping the program canceled. Though no one was lost in the first accident, in the second, all seven aboard were killed; and things looked bleak for the Osprey and those who had backed it.

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Then, in 1993, good things began to happen for the V-22. The coming of a new Administration allowed the Department of Defense to take a fresh look at the aircraft and the requirements it was meant to fulfill. After a small mountain of studies, the Clinton Administration decided to restart the Osprey production program, and began to work towards a planned initial operational capability for the first squadron of 2001. Since that time, the first new production Ospreys, officially designated MV- 22B (this is the Marine variant), have been mated and are moving towards final a.s.sembly. The first flight is scheduled for 1996, and the program is moving along well; it's on time and on budget. As an added bonus, the other three services have reevaluated their requirements and are beginning to get back into the V-22 program, with the Air Force's SPECOPS program first among the newcomers. Current program production plans have the USMC buying 425, the Air Force 50 for special operations, and the Navy 48 for CSAR, for a planned total of 523 units. Current cost estimates place the average flyaway cost (including non-recurring R&D costs) of around $32 million a copy, though Bell-Boeing thinks that they can get that down to under $29 million.

As currently planned, the MY-22 will be about 57 ft, 4 in./25.8 m long with a wingspan of 50 ft, 11 in./15.5 m, and a height of 22 ft, 7 in./6.9 m. It will weigh in empty at 31,886 1b/14,463 kg, and will have a maximum takeoff weight of 60,500 lb/27,947 kg in a STOVL mode. Maximum payload will be twenty-four fully loaded troops or 20,000 1b/9,072 kg of cargo. Performance will include a top-level flight speed of 314 kt/582 kph and a maximum ferry range of around 2,100 nm/3,829 km, and a tactical range of around 1,800 nm/3,336 km. These are impressive numbers for an aircraft with roughly the same folded dimensions as the CH-46. Inside the MV-22B will be a c.o.c.kpit that is arguably the most advanced of any aircraft in the world. Based on the c.o.c.kpit of the Air Force's MH-53J Pave Low III SPECOPS helicopter and the MC-130H Combat Talon II aircraft, it has undergone many improvements in the years that the program has taken to mature. This is a good thing, because a few years back, I nearly killed myself and a few other folks in a full-motion V-22 flight simulator, trying to fly the thing like a normal helicopter. Today, the MV-22's two man c.o.c.kpit looks a lot like a normal military c.o.c.kpit, with a control stick, left-side thrust control lever, and a whole panel of flat multi-function displays (MFDs) to show them all of the vital flight data. This includes a moving-map display tied to a GPS aided inertia navigation system, so that pinpoint, split-second landing operations can become the rule rather than the exception. There is also a FLIR pilotage system to allow enhanced night operations. The entire aircraft is sealed against chemical, nuclear, and biological threats by an overpressure /filter system.

Flying this new bird is, to say the least, a bit strange. I got to try it on the new mission simulator at Bell's Plant in Fort Worth, Texas, and it was an eye-opener. To lift off, you advance the thrust control lever on your left forward, and the MV-22 lifts off smoothly. To transition to high-speed level flight, you push a small thumbwheel on the thrust control forward, and the engines rotate down in 3deg increments. Once they are in the full "down" position, you are essentially flying a high-performance turboprop transport, which is actually quite agile and comfortable. To land, you begin to pull back on the thumbwheel, causing the engines to rotate back to the vertical. The fly-by-wire system makes this very comfortable, and your eyes begin to transition to the MFD, which tells you the sink rate towards the ground. This is the critical condition to watch, because you need to keep this fairly low. Tilt-rotor aircraft cannot apply power quite as fast as normal helicopters, and you have to think a little "ahead" to make this go smoothly. If you've done it right, you should feel a gentle "thump," and you are down.

Right now, the biggest problem facing the Osprey program is the planned rate of procurement. Originally, the Clinton Administration had planned to buy less than two dozen a year. This meant that the buy would run out to the year 2025. General Krulak is planning to speed this up to around thirty-six a year, so that the procurement of MV-22B will be completed before 2010. In this way, he hopes to avoid a funding conflict between Osprey and the planned JSF buy.

Getting There: The Gator Navy Amphibious warfare is one of the most expensive and risky forms of combat ever devised. You have to move difficult and unruly cargo (combat troops), feed and care for them, and safely bring them through hostile waters to an enemy sh.o.r.e. You have to then deliver them, with all of their equipment and supplies, onto a beach to fight their way inland. And then they have to wait for follow-on forces or evacuation at the end of the mission. Today, most nations with coastlines have radar-equipped planes and patrol boats to locate an incoming force over the horizon. They are armed with guided missiles, coastal artillery, and mines.

When they were planning the Normandy invasion, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his staff in 1944 faced this problem. But things have changed a lot since then. The weapons of our time are far more lethal than those of World War II; and General Eisenhower had the unlimited resources of American, British, and Allied industry to build over five thousand ships and landing craft to "kick-in-the-door" of n.a.z.i-occupied France. Today, a theater commander in chief (CinC) might be lucky to have a dozen such craft within a single amphibious ready group (ARG). Eisenhower could land five divisions with over 100,000 men on D-Day (June 6th, 1944). Today's CinC might have only 2,500 fighting men and women to throw onto a hostile coast. Clearly, in the fifty years since we invaded our way to victory in Europe and the Pacific, the problem has become more difficult.

The drawdown of amphibious shipping and landing craft by the U.S. over the last few decades has been so precipitous that it has occasionally destabilized the global balance of power. When the Royal Navy announced plans in 1982 to decommission its tiny amphibious force--two a.s.sault Ships (LPDs), and six Landing Ship, Tanks (LSTs)--Argentina promptly invaded the Falkland/Malvinas Islands. Similarly, the perceived inability of the United States to project power into the Persian Gulf in 1979 encouraged the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the takeover of the U.S. Emba.s.sy in Tehran by Iranian militants. By early 1996, our amphibious shipping force had fallen to its lowest level since before Pearl Harbor. This leaves the United States and her allies with just two options. One is to simply abandon the ability to influence events in global crisis areas beyond our sh.o.r.eline. The other choice is to make the best use of the limited a.s.sets we retain. Luckily, we have adopted that one. This is the core of From the Sea From the Sea and and Forward from the Sea. Forward from the Sea. The concept of operations outlined in these doc.u.ments allows the U.S. to maintain a "kick-in-the-door" capability, without bankrupting the treasury or compromising other commitments. The concept of operations outlined in these doc.u.ments allows the U.S. to maintain a "kick-in-the-door" capability, without bankrupting the treasury or compromising other commitments.

We don't yet have all the tools to accomplish the missions spelled out in From the Sea/Forward from the Sea. From the Sea/Forward from the Sea. U.S. amphibious forces during the next decade or so will be a mix of older equipment and ideas and newer "over-the-horizon" (OTH) concepts. As older ships retire, a limited building program will eventually stabilize the amphibious fleet at about thirty-six ships. There will be several hundred landing craft of various types, three Maritime Prepositioning Squadrons (MPSRONs) with a dozen or so ships, and a few older ships in the Ready Reserve Fleet (RRF). And that will be it. Anything else we need will have to be borrowed from the British or another ally, or chartered from commercial shipping. U.S. amphibious forces during the next decade or so will be a mix of older equipment and ideas and newer "over-the-horizon" (OTH) concepts. As older ships retire, a limited building program will eventually stabilize the amphibious fleet at about thirty-six ships. There will be several hundred landing craft of various types, three Maritime Prepositioning Squadrons (MPSRONs) with a dozen or so ships, and a few older ships in the Ready Reserve Fleet (RRF). And that will be it. Anything else we need will have to be borrowed from the British or another ally, or chartered from commercial shipping.

The good news is that it will all probably work, at least under the current world order, or rather, disorder. The key is a new view of amphibious warfare that has quietly taken hold within the military over the last twenty years or so. This is the OTH concept. Instead of closing within a few thousand yards/meters of a beach to unload troops and equipment, the big ships will stay between 25 and 250 nm/46 and 457 km offsh.o.r.e, out of range of enemy sensors and weapons. High-speed vehicles like the Landing Craft, Air Cushioned (LCAC), the new Advanced Amphibious a.s.sault Vehicle (AAAV), the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and the CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopter will deliver the a.s.sault forces to their a.s.signed targets. With these vehicles and aircraft, there will be less need to be so picky about beach topography (sand, shale, beach incline, etc.) or oceanographic conditions (tides, seastates, etc.). This will mean that the area of operations (AOR), or "battles.p.a.ce," can be vastly expanded, making the problems of defending a coastline more difficult. The result of all this will be to increase the value of our limited amphibious forces, while decreasing the risks they face. Meanwhile, those thirty-six amphibious ships will be the most capable and powerful ever built.

This chapter will introduce you to the Navy's amphibious vessels. It will give you some feel for how the men and women of the 'Gator Navy live, as they do their hard, dangerous jobs in the "littoral regions" of the world.