You really have to give 21stCentury credit for posting this New York Times article. I’d say it took a lot of intestinal fortitude to post something as unflattering to the V-22 as this. Kudos!
We’ve always been lead to believe that the military has been sending the V-22s into “combat,” and that their record in such situations has been spectacular. An unqualified success! Proponents of the tilt-rotor laud its advantages over a conventional helicopter: Virtually undetectable as it approaches at the speed of light using the element of surprise; gets-in-and-gets-out-quick and then departs, also at the speed of light. Who needs guns? Who needs air cover? The V-22 is the all-singing, all-dancing, do-it-all wonder aircraft of the…well, 21st Century.
And now this: A flight of three V-22s goes into Bor, South Sudan, a most God-forsaken place in a desolate part of Africa that’s flatter than Louisiana, consisting of fairly barren land and low residential buildings - tents and mudhuts, mostly...thatch-roof, bamboo-wall shacks that would make the ones on "Gilligan's Island" seem like luxury condos. Bor, a "city" of 20,000 people (except during refugee season when that number doubles). I GoogleEarth'd it and saw very few large structures of any kind – not even at the terminal-less, dirt-runway airport, and a startling lack of motor vehicles, running water and, apparently, sewage-treatment facilities...but nevertheless not enough room to land an R-22 much less three V-22s.
Bor looks so far removed from modern civilization that one could safely assume they’re still using horses pulling carts with square-wheels because nobody has invented the round one yet. Pictures show the usual shots of smiling, naked black people swimming and bathing in mud puddles. Some of the more modest adult population wear old, discarded Walmart clothing, giving them an ironically colorful appearance. (Please, can we stop with the Louisiana comparisons already? Sheesh!)
The more you learn about South Sudan, the more you come to wonder why any person with a proton of sanity would fight over it. Is power that addicting, that people will fight over even the most worthless piece of crap terrain on the planet? Apparently. Then here comes the U.N., to rescue and provide shelter for some 14,000 refugees in harm’s way. And then here comes the U.S. military, to rescue the people rescuing the refugees in harm’s way. Sounds like a plan, doesn’t it? No, it sounds like the script of a bad comedy-action movie starring Charlie Sheen...or it would if it wasn’t so tragic.
Okay, so what happened?
As the aircraft approached the town,“they were fired on by small-arms fire by unknown forces,” the military said in a statement. All three aircraft were damaged.
Wow. Small arms fire? Really? What are we talking here, pistols and slingshots? Wow.
All three V-22s were damaged, although we don’t know how badly, but they apparently remained flyable. And not only that, four servicemen were injured: one very seriously. News reports say that the injuries occurred on more than one V-22. The aircraft aborted their mission and then (again,according to other news sources) beat feet southbound to Uganda. Then the injured were flown to Nairobi, presumably in something safer than a V-22...which (late edit), according to Madbob's post was a C-17, an aircraft that actually can fly high and fast and out of range of small-arms fire.
As the V-22s began taking fire, we can imagine the crew chief stationed with his puny mini-gun on the rear ramp, yelling over the intercom, “Come on Skipper, pedal turn this bitch around so I can get a shot at them!! There's nothing to shoot at in this barren, God-forsaken place - not even a nutria!”
This incident legitimately calls into question the honesty of the U.S. military when it comes to how they are actually using the V-22. I guarantee you that, if this story is true and not made up, then V-22s have not been sent into “hot” LZs…or any place where there might actually be some real “combat” or armed opposition...or at least, an LZ that hasn't already been carpet-bombed "back to the Stone Age" by a squadron of B-52's.
Not a very good showing of the V-22, I’d say…except that we now know that it can run far and fast with its twin tails tucked between its legs if it encounters small-arms fire upon arriving at a contested LZ. I don’t know about you, but I’m sure glad these “unknown forces” didn’t have anything more powerful than the aforementioned pistols and slingshots. Did the rebel forces know that the V-22 was utterly defenseless from the front? We shudder to think of the outcome if they’d gotten their hands on something as sophisticated as a, ohhhh, grenade launcher…or even a WWI-era cannon stolen from the world-renown Bor Museum of Natural History and Armed Conflict.
Good thing it wasn’t an actual, you know, war zone.
Last edited by FH1100 Pilot; 23rd Dec 2013 at 14:38.