Monday, August 04, 2014

It was a classic helicopter ambush.



via War is Boring.
The operation kicked off according to plan. The CV-22s—which can fly like regular planes and land like helicopters—arrived on schedule at the United Nations compound in Bor, where the evacuees were sheltering.
The pilots from the 8th Special Operations Squadron then flew around the immediate area to check for any hostile fighters. The tiltrotors were about to land when someone attacked.
“The barrage of gunfire and RPGs from the ground hit the formation 119 times,” the 1st Special Operations Wing news report explains. In the end, all three Ospreys suffered severe damaged. Gunfire and shrapnel hit four special operators aboard the planes.
Three of the wounded troops were “in critical condition” and apparently could have died as the planes rushed to Entebbe airport in neighboring Uganda.
Read the whole story but lets call this what it is...a classic helicopter ambush.

The enemy either had info or reacted to hearing the incoming aircraft, and then lit them up with RPGs and rifle fire.

For all the talk about the V-22 being inherently superior to helicopters I'm just not seeing it.  The Osprey is particularly vulnerable in the landing zone, both during infil/exfil.  It isn't particularly maneuverable when it enters its landing phase and that is a HUGE weakness...oh and these CV-22s got hit with RPGs and small arms...what happens when they run against SAMs and large caliber anti-air guns?