Ospreys leave new belly gun in the dust

[unhappycamper]

A 7.62mm belly-mounted turret gun, known as the Interm Defense Weapon System.


Ospreys leave new belly gun in the dust
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 28, 2010 9:56:49 EDT

CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan — In answer to criticism calling the Osprey vulnerable to enemy attack and lacking fire power, the Marine Corps shipped a handful of 7.62mm belly guns to Afghanistan last winter.

But the remotely operated turret guns, designed to give the aircraft a more effective way to neutralize enemy threats, has gone widely unused because Marines and their leaders believe its drawbacks frequently outweigh its benefits.

Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., has five belly gun systems with it downrange, but it is seen as heavy and difficult to use. A Marine crew chief, frequently a gunnery sergeant, operates the system from the inside using a controller and can rotate the gun 360 degrees. He acquires targets using a monitor that is fed color images from a forward-looking infrared sensor.

Marines, however, acknowledged that operating the belly gun system can cause nausea for the crew chief using it, since he must stare at the screen while the aircraft maneuvers.

Another major drawback is that the belly gun is heavy, weighing in at 800 pounds. That dramatically affects how much cargo or troops an MV-22 can carry. The Osprey can carry about 12,000 pounds of fuel, personnel and equipment in 70-degree weather, but when the temperature exceeds 107 degrees — as the summer weather in southern Afghanistan does regularly — the Osprey’s capacity drops to between 8,000 and 8,500 pounds, Woods said.

[msongs]

1. Osprey's primary target = US treasury nt

[L0oniX]

2. +1

[backscatter712]

3. Osprey hasn't lived up to its promises.

It's insanely expensive, falling victim to the defense contract cost spiral, it's got a few disadvantages - IIRC, it's fairly slow on takeoff and landing, making it really awkward and vulnerable in combat situations, it's mechanically complex, hard to repair, and then there are the accidents making this aircraft a notorious widow-maker.

Oh, and because of the aerodynamics, you can't have door-gunners, which is why they have this widget, which clearly isn't working well either.