The US Navy is replacing its C-2A Greyhounds,
the primary aircraft in charge of making urgent deliveries to aircraft carriers anywhere around
the world. And by urgent, I don’t mean one-day Amazon
deliveries, even though Amazon packages do get delivered to aircraft carriers. The C-2 Greyhound has had a long career with
the US Navy since the 1960s, but is now being replaced with a tiltrotor, the CMV-22 Osprey. Yes, it looks like the MV-22 that US Marines
have been now using for a while, but just a bit chubbier on the cheeks! Can the CMV-22 actually do everything that
the C-2 is doing right now? Absolutely. In fact, it is capable of doing much more. But why as it stands, the Osprey would be
unable to reach its full potential with the US Navy, is Not What You Think! Flying a cargo plane directly to an aircraft
carrier in the middle of the Ocean is quite expensive, and that’s why its mission is
limited to transporting urgent packages, parts and aircraft engines. Critical personnel may also be flown in if
needed, and at times, emergency evacuations are performed to take someone off the aircraft
carriers. All of that is done with the help of the C-2
Greyhound. Everything else, like Amazon packages, mail,
food, supplies, and fuel are all delivered using a second method, underway replenishment,
which is done with the help of a supply ship. The CMV-22 Osprey is what’s replacing the
C-2 Greyhound. The Osprey is a tiltrotor that can takeoff
and land like a helicopter, but transit as a turboprop aircraft. The CMV-22 can carry less payload, 6,000 lb,
compared to the C-2’s 10,000 lb. But the Osprey makes up for this by being
able to carry external cargo, allowing it to transport oversized loads that do not fit
inside the C-2. When it comes to operational range, both the
C-2 and the CMV-22 have a similar range, except that the Osprey can be refueled mid-air, giving
it much more range if needed. But it’s probably the osprey’s ability
to perform vertical takeoff and landing that really gives it an edge. The C-2 is catapult-launched, and lands on
the carrier with the help of arrestor wires. During both take off and landing, a huge amount
of force is experienced by those onboard, which may not be a big deal for the crew,
but could be detrimental for someone with a medical condition. In February 2021, a sailor who had experienced
a stroke needed to be evacuated from aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. Given his critical condition, evacuating the
sailor on a C-2 Greyhound could have been fatal during the catapult launch. Thankfully, a CMV-22 was onboard which was
used for medevac for the very first time, saving the sailor’s life In another example, one of the catapults broke
down on aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and the support element that was needed for
the repair had to be picked up from shore and flown back to the carrier. Of course, the C-2 Greyhound could have used
any of the remaining 3 catapults to fly out. The issue, however, was that there was no
runway near that particular support facility, so multiple hops would have been needed to
bring the repair element back to the ship. The CMV-22 saved a lot of time by flying there
directly. We should note that in both cases, a helicopter
would not have had the operational range to fly from the carrier and make it all the way
to shore. Even if it did, because the Osprey can switch
to airplane mode in horizontal flight, it can fly much faster than a helicopter. CMV-22 has a cruising speed in the range of
305 mph, almost twice as much as conventional helicopters. The most notable visual difference between
the existing V-22 variants and the CMV-22B is the fuel tank extensions to the forward
portion of the sponsons on either side of the aircraft. The CMV variant will also have an improved
fuel dumping capability, to dump fuel in-flight during emergency situations. The additional fuel tanks were necessary to
ensure the CMV-22 can have the operational range needed to perform Carrier Onboard Delivery
or COD, which is its primary mission when replacing the C-2s. But this Osprey is a game changer for the
Navy, because it can do much more than just delivering cargo. The CMV-22s could be equipped with the V-22
Aerial Refuelling System or VARS, which will allow them to refuel other aircraft like F/A-18s
or F-35s. This will allow the F-35s to reach target
areas as far as 1,000 miles away, if refueled by the Osprey. The US Marine Corps has been testing this
capability for a few years now, but it is unknown whether the US Navy would include
this capability for its CMV-22 fleet. The US Navy currently has 2 carrier-based
aircraft that can operate as tankers in order to perform aerial refueling. One option is the F/A-18F Super Hornet, which
can be equipped with external tanks in order to provide fuel to other aircraft. Until a few years ago, Super Hornets were
the only carrier-based aircraft covering tanker missions during deployments on the carriers,
but this meant that they would reach their 6,000-hour service life several years earlier. The second option is the MQ-25 Stingray, an
aerial refueling drone. In June 2021, the MQ-25 conducted its first
refueling operation, providing fuel to an F/A-18F Super Hornet. The Ospreys can also be equipped with multiple
mission packages. I can see some of you are getting LCS flashbacks! But this is different. The rear ramp of the Osprey allows for different
mission packages to be installed in its cargo bay. For example, if an E-2 Hawkeye cannot operate
for some reason, a special communication package could be installed to turn the CMV-22 into
a communication node. Similarly, an electronic warfare roll-on/roll-off
package has been successfully tested by the US Marine Corps. The Osprey will also be equipped with a beyond-line-of-sight
high frequency radio and improved command and control capabilities to provide line-of-sight
communications beyond the horizon. In addition to this, CMV-22 accommodates a
crew of 4, plus 24 troops. This can allow the Osprey to deploy naval
special warfare forces, either with the help of low or high altitude parachute drops, or
with a combat rubber raiding craft. This all sounds great, but there is a little
problem. The US Navy originally planned to proccur
48 Ospreys, but that number was later reduced to 44. As of December 2022, the US Navy has only
received 19 of them. Because the CMV-22 can do so much more than
C-2 could, during high demand situations, the multimission aspect of the Osprey may
result in reduced availability for its primary missions, as a logistical asset. The V-22 platform is also already a bit of
a maintenance hog and its cost per flight hour is very high. As more fleet elements tap into the asset,
the aircraft could see pressure on its availability and readiness. The Navy currently only has enough Osprey
airframes and personnel for the primary COD missions. To use these additional capabilities, more
aircrews, more maintenance personnel, and more Ospreys are needed. The Navy cannot do all these additional missions
with the same number of aircraft, or if they did, there will be no availability for COD
missions. The fleet is expected to fully transition
to the CMV’s by 2028. Currently the Pentagon is not planning to
buy any additional Ospreys for any of the military branches, besides what is currently
on order.
