It is truly amazing, the extent some people will go to try to make the V-22 a success where it is not. Like that former U.S. Secretary of Defense, John Lehman. His little opinion piece in the Washington Times seems so...I dunno...desperate to me. Doesn't it seem desperate to you too? It's like he's trying really, really hard...too hard, I think...to convince us that the Osprey is such a valuable aircraft. That desperation must come from some inside knowledge that the V-22 is still on the verge of cancellation. As it should be. He probably still has good contacts at the Pentagon.
In the article linked, Lehman states:
Rescue and extraction is a key mission for the Osprey, and nowhere has it performed better than in Sudan last December, when three V-22s sent to rescue Americans were subjected to heavy groundfire. The cutting-edge composites and design of this remarkable aircraft ensured its survival. All three Ospreys continued flying, carrying four seriously wounded U.S. troops 500 miles to safety.
Dear God. I nearly fell off my chair when I read that. Is he high? Is Lehman under the influence of psychotropic drugs? Is he on LSD? Is he actually trying to tell us that the FAILED mission to "RESCUE AMERICANS!!!" was actually a...you know...success? Because the very clear implication is that the four seriously wounded U.S. troops were those that the Ospreys were sent to rescue when IN FACT they were already aboard the V-22s which could not land and complete the misson because of that heavy ground-fire.
Come on, John, you can be more honest than that, can't you? Oh wait- no you can't. Because you put forth one other bit of misinformation earlier in your article...
Thirty-two years ago, the secretary of the
Navy, the commandant of the
Marine Corps and chief of naval operations had to decide on a replacement for the old Vietnam-era CH-46 helicopter, the heavy-lift workhorse of
Navy fleet replenishment and Marine air assault.
The options were a new twin-rotor such as the Sea Knight, or an entirely new tilt-rotor technology that had been developed and flown by
NASA.
Say whaaaaaat?! I'm sure Bell Helicopter will be pleased to know that all of the work they'd done developing the tilt-rotor concept since 1953 was actually done by NASA. Sure.
The trouble is, people who are unfamiliar with aviation will read Lehman's self-serving, bullsh*t WT piece and take is as gospel.
"Well, he's the former Secretary of Defense - he must be telling us the truth!"
Calling that FAILED mission to South Sudan a success really takes the cake. All it proved was that the V-22 can take ground fire and run away fast and far. Heck, a C-130 could've done that. And double-heck, an
AC-130 could've returned fire. So maybe it wouldn't have had to run away at all.