SEPTEMBER 2009

Marines to Send UH-1Ys, V-22s, KC-130Js to Afghanistan by Year’s End.

V-22s to get six belly mounted guns

Marines in Afghanistan will be getting a full squadron of V-22 tiltrotors and H-1 helicopters as well as four KC-130J aircraft by the end of the year, Lt. Gen. George Trautman, deputy commandant for aviation, told Inside the Navy Aug. 28.

Although dates have not been set, the Marines expect to send nine UH-1Y utility helicopters and 10 to 12 V-22s to Afghanistan by the end of 2009, along with four KC-130Js -- three of which will be armed, Trautman said, “We’re going to get V-22s in there, we’re going to get UH-1Y in there . . . and we’re going to get Harvest Hawk [the armed version of the KC-130J] there,” he said.

It will be the first time a squadron of 10 to 12 V-22s are permanently stationed in Afghanistan. In 2007, the first Ospreys arrived in Iraq and were stationed there until earlier this year, when the aircraft were sent home, coinciding with the drawdown of U.S. forces.

The Marine Corps will also send six all-quadrant plug-and-play gun systems with the Ospreys, as well as optional .50-caliber ramp-mounted guns, allowing commanders to decide what weapons the V-22s will take on missions depending on what is needed.

BAE Systems, which makes the belly-mounted gun, will deliver the next version of software to Air Force Special Operations Command this week. “They’ll do several developmental test flights, then they’ll turn that software over to the squadron, and that squadron will have 45 to 60 days that they can train with a full-up defensive weapon system before they go to Afghanistan,” Trautman said. It will also be the first time the UH-1Y aircraft will have a permanent squadron in the country. A
small group of UH-1Ys completed a deployment with a Marine Expeditionary Unit in July, conducting utility missions and assisting in fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia, Trautman said.

Four KC-130Js will also be sent to Afghanistan as well by the end of the year, three of which will be equipped with Harvest Hawk kits, which would weaponize the aircraft. “It’s going to initially be armed with a Lockheed [Martin-built] targeting sight system, which is a very capable system,” he said. “It’s going to have Hellfire [missiles] and it’s going to have standoff
precision guided munitions on the ramp, and inside a fire control system.”

F/A-18 Hornet weapon systems operators will man the fire control system initially “so we can learn from the best of the best and transpose that into the KC-130 community, for whom this is a new practice,” the three-star general said.

(Editor’s Note: This article appeared in the “Early Bird highlights (Marine Corps-related),” 31 August 2009, and was taken from Inside the Navy. The article was written by Dan Taylor.)

Related Links

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/004839.html

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Harvest-Hawk-Aims-to-Arm-USMCs-KC-130J-Aerial-Tankers-05409/