Navy CMV-22B Ospreys Only Allowed To Fly 30 Minutes From A Divert Airfield: Congress
The flight limit means the Navy’s CMV-22Bs cannot perform their critical transport mission for carriers on deployment.
BY
HOWARD ALTMAN
|
PUBLISHED MAY 14, 2024 3:19 PM EDT
Congress says the Navy's CMV-22B Ospreys can only fly 30 minutes from a divert airfield, limiting their ability to provide carrier onboard delivery services.
A powerful Congressional subcommittee says the Navy’s troubled CMV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft are unable to perform their main function of aircraft carrier onboard delivery (COD) and wants to know what is being done to fix the problem.
“The committee understands that current CMV-22 operations are limited to flights and missions that stay within 30 minutes of a suitable divert airfield,” the House Armed Services Committee Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee wrote in its Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) initial markup. “This prohibits the use of the CMV-22 for carrier onboard support of deployed aircraft carriers once they have left their homeport.”
That presents a potentially huge problem because the Ospreys are intended to provide a stream of vital supplies and personnel to aircraft carriers and their escorts. This logistics link has to exist even over longer distances during so called 'blue water' operations, where ship's own tactical jets have no divert fields within range. As it sits now, the carriers can only be supported by the CMV-22 within close proximity to shore, which drastically negates their intended utility. In other words, the CMV-22s are basically operating within the range of what a laden heavy lift helicopter could achieve at this time.
https://www.twz.com/sea/navy-cmv-22b-ospreys-only-allowed-to-fly-30-minutes-from-a-divert-airfield-congress
