Osprey at the Eight-Year Mark: Preparing for the Next Phase

2015-05-17 By Robbin Laird

This September, the Osprey will reach an 8-year mark in its operational deployment history.

In September 2007, the Osprey was deployed for the first time to Iraq.

The USMC Commandant Conway and Deputy Commandant of Aviation Castellaw announced and made the decision to deploy the Osprey into combat although virtually all public commentators thought this was too early for an “untested” airplane, as one critic put it.

The plane has not only done well, but in 8 short years has demonstrated its capability to have not only a significant impact on combat but to re-shape thinking about concepts of operations.

Earlier, I provided an update at the five-year mark.

Now let us take the story forward as the first global sales of the Osprey have occurred, and the prospects for a new global phase of the Osprey evolution comes into view.

The First Five Years

During the first five years, the Osprey was introduced first into Iraq and then began operating in Afghanistan.

Early deployments were challenging in terms of support and taking the steps to begin to learn the transition from a helo enabled assault force to a tiltrotar assault force.

And at sea, this learning would take the USN-USMC team to rethink the deployment of the classic three-ship formation of the ARG-MEU and to move the ships further away from one another, and to expand the operational engagement area of the ARG-MEU.

It was used for assault operations from the beginning but over time, the role would expand as the support structure matured, readiness rates grew and airplane availability become increasingly robust.

The Osprey’s speed and range meant that the very large number of forward operating bases which rotorcraft require were not needed, and this became crucial as the drawdown in Afghanistan occurred.

And this would lead to the Osprey being tasked with the Army’s medevac mission as the golden hour could NOT be met by the Army with the draw down of bases.

The Marines were tasked to provide for this capability because of its ability to cover Afghanistan without numerous FOBs.

When Odyssey Dawn entered the picture in early 2011, the Osprey altered the performance of the ARG-MEU and provided a core capability ensuring that a downed pilot did not become a political pawn by Qaddafi.

The ability to link seamlessly support services ashore with the deployed fleet via the Osprey allowed the Harriers aboard the USS Kearsarge to increase their sortie rates dramatically.

By providing a whole new speed and range enablement of the strike fleet aboard a large deck amphibious ship, the future was being re-defined by the Osprey.

The USN began to see a whole new way to look at COD or carrier on-board delivery!

As Lt. Col. Boniface, commanding officer of VMM 266, but the Osprey leader in Operation Odyssey Dawn, argued:

A complete transformation to how we are doing business has been involved by operating the Osprey.  In order for the USS Kearsarge, the ARG and the 26th MEU to stay in their operational box during Operation ODESSEY DAWN, and enable the Harriers to continue their strike mission, we were reliant on other assets to supply us.  For many supply items, the Osprey provided the logistical link to allow the ARG to stay on station and not have to move towards at sea re-supply points and meet re-supply ships.

Without the Osprey you would have to pull the USS Kearsarge out of its operational box and send it somewhere where it can get close enough to land or get close enough to resupply ships to actually do the replenishment at sea.  Or you would be forced to remain where you are at and increase the time you’re going to wait for this part by three, four days or even a week.

The ARG ships are only moving at 14-15 knots. At best, let’s just say they move an average of 13 knots per hour, and add that up for the 300 miles that you have to sail.  Now you’re looking at least a day to get the needed folks, parts or equipment and then the transit time back to the operational box. The V22 will do that in a couple hours and allow the ARG/MEU to keep executing its mission.

And the five-year transition was marked by a further demonstration of transformatory impact in the “return to the sea” associated with the initiation of the Bold Alligator exercises begun in 2011.

At the time of the launching of this series of exercises the goal was defined as follows:

Bold Alligator is designed to revitalize the fundamental roles of the Navy and Marine Corps team as “fighters from the sea” and will focus on conducting major amphibious operations simultaneously with a non-combatant evacuation exercise.

“The nature of amphibious forces is that we’re extremely flexible and can be specifically tailored to any mission at any time,” said Rear Adm. Kevin Scott, commander of ESG 2. “Bold Alligator 2011 represents the ongoing efforts in meeting the challenges of future warfare conflicts, overseas contingency operations and homeland defense, so we remain the world’s premier amphibious force.”

But the Osprey was redefining amphibious assault.

It was no longer about being close to shore and launching amphibious vehicles; it was defining your assault vector and moving into the objective area from a much greater distance with Ospreys as a tip of the spear insertion force.

The existence, deployment and appearance of the Osprey changed the entire approach to thinking about amphibious assault. During Bold Alligator 2012, while observers stood on the beach waiting for the assault, Ospreys were already part of taking an “enemy” fort deep in the terrain.  And not only that but one of the Ospreys deployed from a supply ship!

The next three years from 2012 until now have seen the maturing of the Marine Corps in its use of Ospreys to the point whereby the Marines, as the only tiltrotar-enabled assault force in the world, are redefining force insertion.

A number of key developments have unfolded since 2012.

The Next 3 Years: The Battle Tested Osprey

First, the battle testing has continued for the Osprey and its ability to survive in tough conditions clearly proven.

The redundancy of systems aboard the aircraft, and the performance of the composite systems to take battle damage have been clearly combat proven.

This has been recognized with the awarding of the first Distinguished Flying Crosses to Osprey pilots.

The story of what two Marine aviators did to be the first V-22 Osprey pilots awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses is simple, elegant, and and tactically telling. The double-DFC incident underscores how the Marines are using the unique tilt-rotor aircraft — which can take off and land like a helicopter, then fly long distances at high speeds like an airplane — and its ability to perform in extreme battlefield conditions.

I interviewed the two pilots, Major Michael Hutchings and Captain David Haake, at New River Air Station.

Here’s what happened in Afghanistan in June 2012. Two Ospreys, operating with conventional helicopters — Hueys and Cobras — were supporting the insertion of a Marine reconnaissance battalion. The Ospreys, piloted by Maj. Hutchings and Capt. Haake, were flying in a two-ship formation and planning to put down Marines in two waves.

The first wave went well, and the Ospreys returned to insert the second group of Marines, to provide the enough armed manpower to perform the mission in Taliban infested territory.

As Hutching’s V-22 came down it took heavy fire, which so damaged the plane that the systems on board told the pilot to not fly the aircraft. Of course, not flying was to face certain death, so the task for the pilot and the crew was to find a way out. The plane was badly damaged, but because of the various redundant systems on board and the skill of the pilot and the crew, they were able to depart and to make it back to Camp Bastion in airplane mode. With a traditional rotorcraft, of course, you do not have the relative luxury of switching between two modes of travel.

As Haake followed Hutching in, the Hueys and Cobras informed him that Taliban were occupying the area around the intended landing zone. Haake took his plane up and took stock of his options. While he did, he learned that Hutchings had landed and was under attack, which meant that Haake had little choice but to insert Marines to reinforce the reconnaissance battalion. He did, also under heavy fire. His plane was badly damaged as well and also had on board a wounded Afghan soldier working with the Marines.

In addition to battle damage to the aircraft, the plane was leaking fuel very badly. This meant that the pilot and crew knew they could not make it back to Camp Bastion, but would have to land at a Forward Operating Base, which also had medical support, about 20 miles away. Again, flying on helicopter mode, the plane and crew made it to the base.

But for Maj. Hutchings, the day was not yet over. This was a night insertion so the Marines needed to be extricated the next day. Hutchings flew an Osprey the next morning as part of the effort to pick up the Marines and get them out. Hutchings landed the plane and took onboard the Marines, who were firing at the enemy as they boarded the plane. The Osprey took off to altitude with speed. “I asked the crew chief after about 10 minutes how the Marines in the back were doing. He said they were asleep,” Hutchings added.

Although their tale is the most dramatic testimony to the maturing of the Osprey, it was not the only one I heard. Frank “Blaine” Rhobotham, the Remain Behind Element Officer in Charge of VMM-365, provided another example of the impact of the Osprey and its maturity. He was the head maintainer involved in preparing the Special Purpose MAGTF, which now operates out of Southern Europe and is available to support missions in Africa and the Mediterranean.

Rhobotham discussed the very short period from the generation of the concept of the Special Purpose MAGTF to its execution. It took about eight months from inception to deployment. He emphasized the flexibility of the force and its light footprint. “With a six-ship Osprey force supported by three C-130s we can move it as needed. The three C-130s are carrying all the support equipment to operate the force as well.”

The flexibility which the Osprey now offers Combatant Commanders and US defense officials is a major strategic and tactical tool for the kind of global reality the US now faces, requiring rapid support and insertion of force.

The Next Three Years: SP-MAGTF

Second, there has been the formation, deployment and now high demand use of what the Marines have called Special Purpose Crisis Response MAGTFs.

The first SP-MAGTF was formed in 2013 and leveraging the Osprey-KC130J combination provide a force for supporting humanitarian or crisis interventions.

In an interview done at the time with Brigadier General James S. O’Meara then commander, U.S. Marine Forces Europe, and deputy commander, U.S. Marine Forces Africa, the role of the new force structure was explained.

The SP-MAGTF is the basic Marine Corps air ground team or MAGTF approach but applied to a Special Purpose Mission.

Special means it’s uniquely tailored to a particular mission or a few mission sets. 

In this case, the focus is upon security embassy reinforcements or a noncombatant evacuation.

Also, it is a rotational force, which provides a crisis response force able, to deal with EUCOM and AFRICOM needs. 

General Dempsey provided strategic guidance, which was looking for a force, which operates with a small footprint, and is low-cost, and rotational.  This is the answer to that guidance.

The SP-MAGTF meets the need to respond rapidly to a developing situation either proactively or reactively with a small force with a small footprint and has its own organic air, which means that it has operational reach as well.

The force is trained and operational and currently operating from a USAF base at Moran in Spain.

SLD: The SP-MAGTF can reach into Africa or operate throughout the Mediterranean.  Obviously, the Osprey is the enabler of such a force along with your organic lift and tanking.

If you had only helos, this kind of force capability would not be possible, I would assume?B.G. O’Meara: That clearly is correct.  We can operate over a significant combat radius and of course, refueled with our C-130Js can reach throughout the region and all while carrying equipment, and/or two-dozen Marines inside.

It gives AFRICOM commander a unique tailored operational tactical level force with significant operational reach.

The V-22 allows for a paradigm shift and enables a force like SP-MAGTF.  The V-22 gives you that C-130-like distance and speed with the versatility to land in confined, limited area, with no runway or an expeditionary LZ like a helicopter.  

And when you add organic lift and tanking with our C-130Js, the reach is even greater and allows us to operate throughout Africa and the Mediterranean as needed.

And the self-deploying capabilities of the V-22 means that we can plus up the Osprey component as well as needed or other sites throughout the operating area. 

And being Marines, it did not take long to go from formation of the capability to its use.

And when the co-founder of Second Line of Defense, Murielle Delaporte, visited the unit in Moran, Spain in late 2013, it was shortly before they deployed to South Sudan to deal with a crisis.

Her visit underscored the maxim that you train, deploy and train again to get the mission right.

The unit arrived in April 2013 and has engaged in extensive training and patterning with European and African units in preparing for missions in the AFRICOM and EURCOM areas of responsibility.

The Next Three Years: Reworking the GCE and the Osprey Tandem

Third, the impact of the Osprey on the Ground Combat Element is significant.

By operating off of the Osprey, the ability of the infantry to operate at distance, and range and to insert within a variety of access points is dramatically increased.

But to do so requires changes in Command and Control, and operational concepts.

And since 2012, these changes have been actively pursued through a variety of exercises and training efforts.

In a piece which Ed Timperlake and I wrote in May 2014, these innovations were highlighted.

The Marines have been experimenting over the past 15 months with  new ways to connect the GCE within an insertion mission, and they are optimistic that their exercises can lead relatively soon to a deployed capability with Marine Expeditionary Units and Special Purpose MAGTFs focused on crisis response missions. 

These units, then, can subsequently use the initial capability and drive further innovation.

The approach has been to deploy the Ground Combat Element (GCE) over a tilt-rotor-enabled distance and to insert the force with situational awareness, which can enhance mission success.  By shaping new communications capability throughout the flight, the GCE getting off the Osprey is much better positioned for mission success.

With a shift from flying to engaging in a forward leaning operation, a number of key mobility requirements have been highlighted as well:

How to continue to provide SA to the insertion force throughout their mission on the ground?

How to simplify the communications packages and to make them easier to use?

How to shift from more static UAV concepts such as Shadow to a small “Kamikaze” UAV which can be pushed out of the Osprey and work with the mission?

How to leverage the F-35s Distributed Aperture System (DAS) capability and to push that information down to the lowest tactical level?

In other words, by working with a tilt-rotor-enabled force, the Marines are forward leaning their experimentation to procure technology that will enable new capabilities, and not simply fill legacy gaps. 

The Next Three Years: The Arrival of the USS America

Fourth, a new ship is getting ready for deployment, the USS America which is built for the Osprey and the F-35B and will be part of the next phase of the evolution of the tiltrotar-enabled assault force.

The USS America is the largest amphibious ship ever built by the United States.

The ship has been built at the Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi and departed mid-July 2014 for its trip to its initial home part at San Diego, California and then was commissioned in San Francisco in mid-October 2014. It is now undergoing its final trials and preparing to enter the fleet.

The USS America has been built to facilitate this capability and will be augmented as the F-35B is added to the Ospreys, and helicopters already operating from the ship and as unmanned vehicles become a regular operational element as well.

The Osprey has obviously been a game changer, where today, the basic three ship formation used by the Amphibious Ready Group-Marine Expeditionary Unit can “disaggregate” and operate over a three-ship distributed 1,000-mile operational area. Having the communications and ISR to operate over a greater area, and to have sustainment for a disaggregated fleet is a major challenge facing the future of the USN-USMC team.

A major change in the ship can be seen below the flight deck, and these changes are what allow the assault force enabled by new USMC aviation capabilities to operate at greater range and ops tempo. The ship has three synergistic decks, which work together to support flight deck operations. Unlike a traditional large deck amphibious ship where maintenance has to be done topside, maintenance is done in a hangar deck below the flight deck. And below that deck is the intermediate area, where large workspaces exist to support operations with weapons, logistics and sustainment activities.

With the coming of the F-35B to the USS America, the tiltrotar-enabled force adds significant capability. This can work a couple of different ways.

The ship can hold more than 20 F-35Bs, but more likely when F-35Bs are being featured would have a 16 F-35B flying with 4 Osprey combinations. The Ospreys would be used to carry fuel and or weapons, so that the F-35B can move to the mission and operate in a distributed base. This is what the Marines refer to as shaping distributed STOVL ops for the F-35B within which a sea base is a key lily pad from which the plane could operate or could move from.

Alternatively, the F-35B could operate as the ISR, C2 and strike asset to work with the rest of the assault force. The beauty of the F-35B for the Marines is that it allows them to operate off of an amphibious ship with a plane which can do C2 or provide forward leaning ISR.

In other words, the F-35 working with an Osprey-enabled insertion force operating off of the USS American could well re-define the meaning of Close Air Support (CAS). 

The F-35 could enter the objective area prior to the arrival of the combat landing team or CLT, push data back to the incoming force, and then provide fire support, “kinetic” and “non-kinetic,” C2 and ISR support during the insertion and operation.

The other new aviation, which will fly off of the USS America, is the CH-53K, which is the replacement for the CH-53E. Although less sexy than an Osprey or a JSF, the K is a backbone element for an airborne amphibious strike force. The CH-53K will be able to carry three times the load external to itself than can a CH-53E and has many operational improvements, such as a fly by wire system.

In short, when one looks at the outside of the USS America and sees a flight deck roughly the size of its predecessors, one would totally miss the point of how this ship fits into USN-USMC innovation.

Looking under the decks, understanding how a radical change in the workflow, enabling and operating with 21st century USMC strike and insertion assets, is how to understand the ship and its impact.

It is an enabler of 21st century amphibious assault operations and not simply an upgrade on the past.

https://sldinfo.com/the-uss-america-cvn-78-and-hms-queen-elizabeth-crafting-capabilities-for-21st-century-operations/

Shaping a Way Ahead

And the result of eight years of operation and innovation is nothing less than creating a high demand force, the Osprey-enabled assault force, which is redefining ways to think about the insertion and withdrawal of force and new ways to engage, prevail and disengage.

This is part of the next phase of the evolution of the Osprey when married with the F-35B, namely to do some serious strategic rethinking on how to use newly crafted insertion forces.

Another part is the maturing of the production process, and the impact of the USAF and USMC in using the aircraft on perceptions of allies.

There are a number of allies interested in buying the plane.

But to get to this new phase, challenges need to be met and resolved to clear the path to the next phase, a global one for the Osprey.

Note: This is the first article in a multiple article series focusing on the maturation of the Osprey and its next phase based in part on visiting the Boeing Osprey plant at Ridley Park, Pennsylvania.

While there, we conducted interviews with senior staff with regard to the maturation of the Osprey from a production, evolving capabilities and sustainment point of view.

The first slideshow highlights U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Ospreys begin flight operations on the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), off of the coast of South Korea, April 2, 2015.

The aircraft are with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 (Reinforced), 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Credit:31st Marine Expeditionary Unit:4/2/15

The second slideshow highlights the USS America transiting through the US Southern Command and US 4th Fleet area of responsibility on her maiden transit. 

In the first photo, an MV-22 Osprey prepares to land aboard the future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6).

In the second photo, the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) pulls into Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for a scheduled port visit July 21, 2014. The ship is embarked on a mission to conduct training engagements with partner nations throughout the Americas before reporting to its new home port of San Diego. The America is to be ceremoniously commissioned Oct. 11, 2014.

In the third photo, Marines assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force South load onto a tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey on the flight deck of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) to participate in bilateral training exercises with Colombia’s military.America is the first ship of its class, replacing the Tarawa-class of amphibious assault ships. As the next generation “big-deck” amphibious assault ship, America is optimized for aviation, capable of supporting current and future aircraft such as the Osprey and F-35B Joint Strike Fighter

In the fourth photo, an MH-60S Seahawk takes off from the flight deck of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) to participate in bilateral training exercises with Colombia’s military.

In the fifth photo, from right, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, escorts Colombian Minister of Defense Juan Carlos Pinzon Bueno and U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Kevin Whitaker aboard the newly commissioned amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) July 17, 2014, in Cartagena, Colombia.

In the sixth photo, Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Charles Hill, assigned to the future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), fires a .50-caliber machine gun during a sustainment shoot. The crew conducts routine, live-fire courses to maintain qualifications and improve proficiency. America is currently traveling through the U.S. Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility on her maiden transit, “America visits the Americas.”

In the final photo, Aviation Electronics Technician 3rd Class Trevor Vindelov, assigned to the “Blackjacks” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21, performs a corrosion inspection on a MH-60S Seahawk helicopter in the hangar bay of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6).

Credit:USS America: July 31, 2014

With regard to the evolving relationship between the GCE and the Osprey and exercises working that relationship as of May 2014:

By working with a tilt-rotor-enabled force, the Marines are forward leaning their experimentation to procure technology that will enable new capabilities, and not simply fill legacy gaps. 

The process has evolved through the course of four exercises through May 2014:

March 2013: Initial long-range night raid experiment between Quantico and Parris Island

The process was started with an initial effort using local resources.

There is a growing sense that the GCE needs to better leverage the evolving capability of USMC aviation, and the exercises are one way to do a better job along these lines.

Captain Jason Deane of the Infantry Officer’s School (IOC) has summarized the approach and findings of this initial experiment in an article in the Marine Corps Gazette published in January 2014.

From January through March 2013 the Infantry Officer Course (IOC) conducted an experiment in a simulated urban littoral, anti access/area denial environment culminating in a long-range night raid between Marine Corps Base (MCB) Quantico and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) Parris Island.

Given potential future urban littoral environments, the experiment sought to determine the following:

• With an acceptable risk level, can a platoon-sized or larger infantry unit fast rope out of MV–22s at night with a 50-to 60-pound combat load? 

• While in the back of MV–22s for approximately 2 hours, can this unit maintain voice and data communications to maximize situational awareness prior to insert? 

• Once on the ground 500 miles from the pickup-landing zone (PZ), can this unit maintain voice and data communications with its higher headquarters? 

In addition, to connectivity lessons learned from the exercise, the Captain highlighted a key “gap” which has been the focus of the follow on exercises, but also highlights the need for technological innovation to follow the paths opened up by tilt-rotor technology, rather than staying in the rotorcraft enabled force era.

As was the case during this long-range raid, MV–22s quickly outrun all U.S. military rotary-wing close air support platforms—that is, unless these aircraft are forward staged near the objective area, which is by no means always practical or advisable if conducting a real-world mission. 

Given rotary-wing close air support limitations when maximizing aspects of the MV–22’s potential, precision guided fires from naval platforms and/or fixed-wing CAS or armed unmanned aerial systems will typically be required to enable ground force actions within an objective area. 

Such aviation assets might be on-station for hours prior to the ground force insert. 

This said, if the ground force is flying to the objective area for hours in the back of MV–22s, we do not currently have the required capability to provide real-time information updates to our infantry Marines, to include still or full-motion video imagery. 

What this meant for our mission was that once the force lifted off from Quantico, the lieutenants did not receive an update on enemy activity in the objective area until they were 10 minutes out from the objective. 

This is an unacceptable information gap. 

August 2013: Company Landing Team (CLT) operated from Quantico to Camp Blanding Florida in raid 

In this experiment, the CLT operated over a 96-hour period, going considerable distance, operating hundreds of miles from its HHQ, against an enemy with anti-access capabilities. The 600-mile aerial assault involved an initial destruction raid and then the force operated as the initial forcible entry capability for a follow-on joint force.

Notably, the experiment focused on testing three core capabilities:

1. Long-range, air-ground command and control;
2. Distributed platoon operations with a CLT HQ element providing C2 back to Quantico (which simulated a distance intended for operations from amphibs or an intermediate state base);
3. Shaping requirements (TTPs) for expeditionary energy systems able to operate in tropical, thickly vegetated environments.

An interesting aspect of the experiment was to unintentionally highlight the limitations of the SHADOW UAV and to shape a clear need for a UAV which can be tossed out the back of the Osprey. 

The SHADOW UAV is not expeditionary in any sense of the word, and the size of the team necessary to support it is a problem as well for an agile lean force looking for the kind of rapid force insertion enabled by the Osprey.

According to one report: “A potential employment concept would be to have a 5,10 or 50-100 pound “kamikaze” UAV stored in the cargo space areas of the MV-22” which can be used by the Fire Support Team as needed.

What clearly emerged from the initial two experiments was that a CLT empowered by the right kind of communications gear and able to work closely with aviation elements could operate effectively at a significant distance., while also providing a unique capability for combatant commanders.

But technology must continue to bend to the operational needs emergent from the concept of operation changes.

December 2013: Exercise Talon Reach whereby the CLT  conducted a NEO into a semi-permissive environment between 29 Palms and Ft Hood, TX.

In this experiment between 29 Palms and Fort Hood Texas the Marines pushed the envelope further.

The purpose of the experiment was the following:

• To validate that the Marine Corps can execute a 1000+ mile crisis response mission in a single period of darkness;
• To further develop TTP to support MV-22 operations into the urban littoral (including fast rope insertion);
• To figure out how to increase MAGTF C3I capabilities, to include long-range, air-ground digital first and inter-flight communication between the assault force and all supporting air assets to best support the ability to gain and maintain access in the objective area.

One finding from the experiment, also known as TALON REACH I, that reinforced a similar finding from the Camp Blanding experiment was that “the GCE currently has  Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) and Joint Fires Observer (JFO) manning and equipping shortfalls that are needed to maximize our air combat element’s ever increasing capabilities on a distributed battlefield.”

According to Lt. Col. Bill Hendricks, a Cobra driver, and currently assigned to USMC Aviation Headquarters as the air-ground weapons requirements officer, the exercise:

Provided an opportunity to look at how mission planning can change significantly with the new configuration of insertion forces and how that approach can, in turn, significantly shorten the time from launch to operating in the objective area.

Rather than several hours on the ground planning the mission and then launching the force mission, now the time associated with the Rapid Response Planning Process can be significantly reduced.  A new process is being developed.

The insertion force takes off and then does the planning en route (given the range and time in transit) and provides real time information to the GCE and ACE commanders aboard the Osprey prior to going into the objective area.

March 2014: Exercise TALON REACH  II whereby a CLT from the training base in Twenty-nine Palms assaulted into an A2/AD environment against enemy positions located on San Clemente Island.

The latest experiment, TALON II, was built around a raid from 29 Palms to San Clemente Island.

According to the tasking:

Among the experiment’s primary objectives were the following:

1. To assess integrated airborne C5I between a CLT located across multiple aviation platforms;
2. To assess integrated ground-air C5I between a CLT post-insert and multiple supporting aviation platforms;
3. To assess the utilization of CLT fires approval processes and control in all phases.

At the heart of the exercise was to secure an airfield to support the concept of distributed STOVL operations as well.

This airfield was 23 kilometers from the enemy’s ASCM sites and required the CLT to conduct an all-night, dismounted movement to contact operation to secure it.  In the experiment, the F-35 surrogate, the Cat Bird” was used to provide DAS and other data to the CLT in flight and post-insertion.

And the F-35 working with an Osprey-enabled insertion force could well re-define the meaning of Close Air Support (CAS).  The F-35 could enter the objective area prior to the arrival of the CLT, push data back to the incoming force, and then provide fire support, “kinetic” and “non-kinetic,” C2 and ISR support during the insertion and operation.