one of the oldest aircraft used by the u.s navy on board its aircraft carriers
will begin to be replaced soon
the c2a greyhound turboprop manufactured by northrop grumman in the 1960s
will leave the scene by 2024 for the cmv22b to enter service
when the navy officially announced the introduction of the cmv 22b
osprey as the future of carrier onboard delivery
in 2015 it did not come as a great shock to those who knew its predecessor inside and out
with the stand up of a new cmv 22b dedicated wing and squadron on the west coast and plans
to stand up another squadron on the east coast the sundown of the c2a greyhound is well underway
whenever there has been a need to deliver personnel or equipment from shore to ship the
navy has looked to the c2a as its carrier onboard delivery workhorse for more than four decades
production of the c2a began in 1965 and it became part of the navy's logistics team in 1966
since then the greyhound has transported countless tons of supplies
male high priority cargo and sailors between shore bases and deployed aircraft carriers
the aircraft was reprocured from 1985 to 1990. over the next several decades the
aircraft underwent modifications and service life extensions keeping its service worthy through 2028
in addition to its age one of the major factors in retiring the c2a is its inability to carry
the massive engine power module for the f35c lightning ii which the cmv-22b allows
as the fifth generation f-35c prepares for deployment this year
the relatively new cmv 22b a modified version of the marine corps mv-22b will deploy in support
testing the osprey's ability to take over carrier onboard delivery missions
began in 2016 and the first cmv 22b was delivered to the navy in february 2020
after testing the cmv 22b arrived at north island for operational use in june 2020 as of january
six cmv 22b have been delivered to the fleet with fleet delivery scheduled
to continue until all are delivered
the cmv 22b will be capable of transporting up to 6 000 pounds aircraft gross weight of cargo
or personnel over a 1150 nautical mile range the increased range is a result of two new 60 gallon
tanks installed in the wing for an additional 120 gallons of fuel and the redesign of the forward
sponson tanks for additional capacity the osprey's ability to take off and land vertically as well
as short takeoff and land makes it more versatile than the stalwart c2a further allowing the osprey
the flexibility to serve any shore or sea base as well as aircraft carriers and amphibious ships
the cmv 22b osprey tiltrotor aircraft will feature a fixed wing design with two main wings mounted on
top of the fuselage the tail configuration will comprise a pair of vertical fins connected by
a horizontal tail plane the aircraft can perform take-off and landing operations onshore as well as
on the aircraft carriers using tri-cycle landing gear which includes a two-wheeled nose gear
and a pair of two wheeled main gears it will feature both vertical takeoff and landing
and short takeoff and landing capabilities the tilt rotor will have a length of 63 feet
a wingspan of 84.6 feet with rotors running at a height of 22 feet the maximum gross
weight of the aircraft in vertical takeoff and landing and short takeoff and landing modes
will be 23.4 tons and 25.4 tons respectively the aircraft can carry up to 6 000 pounds of cargo
or personnel including four crew and up to 23 passengers to a range of 1150 newton meters
the aircraft will be equipped with an improved lighting system for cargo loading operations
and a public address system for onboard passengers it will also incorporate
improved fuel dump capability to dump fuel in-flight in emergency situations
and aerial refueling capability to refuel other naval aircraft based on the aircraft carrier
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