Someone stick a stake in this blood sucker!
April 23, 2009 - V-22s Broke Down
Over 140 V-22s have now been delivered to the Marine Corps, so they now outnumber the CH-46Es still in service. The 10 used as airplanes operating from airbases in Iraq are now worn out and have been withdrawn. They dispatched a Navy ship (LHD) from Norfolk to retrieve them, since they couldn't fly home. Ten V-22s were supposed to deploy aboard ship last November with the 26th MEU(SOC), but pre-deployment exercises prompted the Corps to cancel that idea at the last moment. Ten V-22s did deploy aboard ship with the 22nd MEU this month. There is no news on how they are performing, but note that the 22nd MEU is not a MEU(SOC) since it failed to demonstrate that it was (Special Operations Capable) during pre-deployment training. It was only the second MEU to fail such certification since the SOC concept began two decades ago.
Despite all the sales pitches earlier this year about how Marines and V-22 will dominate the battlefield in Afghanistan, it was learned last month that none will deploy with the 8000-man 2nd MEB. This means there are only 10 of 140 V-22s deployed overseas, whereas half the remaining CH-46s remain committed to units in Iraq, Afghanistan, Okinawa, and aboard ships. They throw out the "new" aircraft excuse for this, but the V-22 first flew in 1989 and went into production in 1999.
From Carlton Blog