Perspectives on the Coming of the CMV-22B to the Large Deck Carrier
By Mr. Robbin Laird
I first viewed a CMV-22B in person when attending the Reveal ceremony in Amarillo, Texas held on February 6, 2020. But I am no stranger to the Osprey having seen my first Ospreys at Second Marine Air Wing in 2007. At that time there were four Ospreys on the tarmac.
The plane has come a long way since then, with the Marines taking it in to every clime and place with the transformational aircraft having a significant change on how the Marines operate. Now the plane is coming in a modified form to the U.S. Navy, as it is technically replacing the C-2 Greyhound in its carrier support role.
Nonetheless, the CMV-22B is no more a replacement for the C-2 Greyhound, than the MV-22 was for the CH46. The MV-22 covered the functions of the CH-46 for the Marine Corps but represented a disruptive change; it has driven transformation of the USMC and its operations. The CMV-22B will be part of a very significant change in the carrier air wing, as it is part of a new generation of assets to operate from the large deck carrier.
This is a shift from what I call the integrated to the integratable air wing; whereas a new asset to the large deck carrier historically has been integrated into the air wing, with the coming of the Osprey, the MQ-25, the F-35C, the Advanced Hawkeye and other assets, the air wing is expanding its reach to work with assets on other ships and non-US combat assets to deliver the combat effect of the air wing.
What is being set in motion is a new approach where each new platform which comes into the force might be considered at the center of a cluster of changes. The change is not just about integrating a new platform in the flight ops of the carrier. The change is also about how the new platform affects what one can do with adjacent assets in the CSG or how to integrate with adjacent U.S. or allied combat platforms, forces, and capabilities. What is being shaped is an interactive kill web approach whereby assets coming off of the carrier can intersect with assets not organic to the carrier to expand the reach of any particular air asset from the carrier air wing, and to enhance that platform’s contribution to the joint fight.
An example of this dynamic was highlighted by the addition of air refueling for the Advanced Hawkeye. Recently, VAW126 Seahawks became the first Advanced Hawkeye squadron to qualify its pilots for air refueling. The focus of the press on this development has been upon how the reach of the Advance Hawkeye has been enhanced. Although true, that misses an important contribution of expanded reach and duration for the entire fleet, and the joint force, not just for the carrier air wing.
For example, the Marines are shaping answers to this question: How can the Marines contribute most effectively to the core Navy mission of sea denial and sea control? Part of the answer is to expand the role of the amphibious fleet and its onboard Marine Corps air and ground capability to play a key role in this mission. An Advanced Hawkeye can augment the ability of this fleet to do this mission and with the extended range with air refueling of the Hawkeye plus the coming of the MQ-25 to the large deck carrier to do that air refueling mission, the prospects of leveraging the capability of a member of the integratable air wing to provide ISR/C2 support for the amphibious task force is enhanced.
The CMV-22 is joining the Air Wing in the process of the integratable revolution. And further discussions, with the participants in the coming of the CMV-22B to the large carrier provided further insights into the process.
Last Fall, I went to Naval Air Station Patuxent River and to meet with Col Matthew Kelly, who is in charge of the V-22 Joint Program Office (PMA-275). We discussed the next phase of Osprey development. The U.S. Navy is joining Osprey Nation at the same time as the Japanese. As Col. Kelly commented: “There is no other air platform that has the breadth of aircraft laydown across the world than does the V-22. And now that breadth is expanding with the inclusion of the carrier fleet and the Japanese. We currently have a sustainment system which works but we need to make it better in terms of supporting global operations.”
The plane has come a long way since then, with the Marines taking it in to every clime and place with the transformational aircraft having a significant change on how the Marines operate. Now the plane is coming in a modified form to the U.S. Navy, as it is technically replacing the C-2 Greyhound in its carrier support role.
Nonetheless, the CMV-22B is no more a replacement for the C-2 Greyhound, than the MV-22 was for the CH46. The MV-22 covered the functions of the CH-46 for the Marine Corps but represented a disruptive change; it has driven transformation of the USMC and its operations. The CMV-22B will be part of a very significant change in the carrier air wing, as it is part of a new generation of assets to operate from the large deck carrier.
This is a shift from what I call the integrated to the integratable air wing; whereas a new asset to the large deck carrier historically has been integrated into the air wing, with the coming of the Osprey, the MQ-25, the F-35C, the Advanced Hawkeye and other assets, the air wing is expanding its reach to work with assets on other ships and non-US combat assets to deliver the combat effect of the air wing.
What is being set in motion is a new approach where each new platform which comes into the force might be considered at the center of a cluster of changes. The change is not just about integrating a new platform in the flight ops of the carrier. The change is also about how the new platform affects what one can do with adjacent assets in the CSG or how to integrate with adjacent U.S. or allied combat platforms, forces, and capabilities. What is being shaped is an interactive kill web approach whereby assets coming off of the carrier can intersect with assets not organic to the carrier to expand the reach of any particular air asset from the carrier air wing, and to enhance that platform’s contribution to the joint fight.
An example of this dynamic was highlighted by the addition of air refueling for the Advanced Hawkeye. Recently, VAW126 Seahawks became the first Advanced Hawkeye squadron to qualify its pilots for air refueling. The focus of the press on this development has been upon how the reach of the Advance Hawkeye has been enhanced. Although true, that misses an important contribution of expanded reach and duration for the entire fleet, and the joint force, not just for the carrier air wing.
For example, the Marines are shaping answers to this question: How can the Marines contribute most effectively to the core Navy mission of sea denial and sea control? Part of the answer is to expand the role of the amphibious fleet and its onboard Marine Corps air and ground capability to play a key role in this mission. An Advanced Hawkeye can augment the ability of this fleet to do this mission and with the extended range with air refueling of the Hawkeye plus the coming of the MQ-25 to the large deck carrier to do that air refueling mission, the prospects of leveraging the capability of a member of the integratable air wing to provide ISR/C2 support for the amphibious task force is enhanced.
The CMV-22 is joining the Air Wing in the process of the integratable revolution. And further discussions, with the participants in the coming of the CMV-22B to the large carrier provided further insights into the process.
Last Fall, I went to Naval Air Station Patuxent River and to meet with Col Matthew Kelly, who is in charge of the V-22 Joint Program Office (PMA-275). We discussed the next phase of Osprey development. The U.S. Navy is joining Osprey Nation at the same time as the Japanese. As Col. Kelly commented: “There is no other air platform that has the breadth of aircraft laydown across the world than does the V-22. And now that breadth is expanding with the inclusion of the carrier fleet and the Japanese. We currently have a sustainment system which works but we need to make it better in terms of supporting global operations.”
After Pax River, my next discussion of the coming of the CV-22B was with the Navy’s Air Boss, Vice Admiral Miller. In a meeting in his office in San Diego a week before attending the reveal ceremony on February 6, 2020 in Amarillo Texas. We discussed how the Air Wing was changing, and the impact of the coming of new platforms, like the CMV-22B. We agreed that a way to look at the way ahead was not so much the integrated air wing, but the shaping of the integratable air wing.
We then focused on the case of the U.S. Navy replacing the C-2 with the CMV-22 in the resupply role. But the Navy would be foolish to simply think in terms of strictly C-2 replacement lines and missions. So how should the Navy operate, modernize, and leverage its Ospreys? For Vice Admiral Miller, the initial task is to get the Osprey onboard the carrier and integrated with CVW operations. But while doing so, it is important to focus on how the Osprey working within the CVW can provide a more integrated force. Vice Admiral Miller and his team are looking for the first five-year period in operating the CMV-22 for the Navy to think through the role of the Osprey as a transformative force, which can expand operations to support a carrier from afloat resupply assets as well.
When at Amarillo, for the Reveal Ceremony, I had my first interaction with CAPT Dewon “Chainsaw” Chaney, the Commander of COMVRMWING (Fleet Logistics MultiMission Wing) who will command three squadrons of CMV22Bs as they are stood up. At the ceremony, CAPT Chaney highlighted the coming of the new capability and what it meant for the U.S. Navy. “What is the status of the CODs? Every Carrier Air Wing Commander and Carrier CO has received that question numerous times from the Carrier Strike Group Commander while on deployment. And for good reason, the COD, or Carrier On-Board Delivery, aircraft is the only longrange aerial logistics platform providing logistical support for the Carrier Strike Group, ensuring its time sensitive combat capability. Sure, there are ways to get some items to the carrier but that time lag in most cases is at the cost of readiness for the warfare commander. The Navy saw the need to replace the aircraft providing this critical capability years ago and embarked on multiple efforts to inform that decision. The Navy selected V-22 as the future COD platform. The first aircraft is being delivered today (well actually a week ago but who is counting). And our first deployment will be here in a blink of an eye!”
This July, I visited the Naval Aviation Warfare Development Center (NAWDC) based at Naval Air Station Fallon, NV. New Navy air platforms coming into the force are worked into the air wing, and the team lead by Rear Admiral Brophy, the CO of NAWDC, are clearly focused on the integratable air wing. Yet the C-2 never was a plankowner in NAWDC, but the CMV-22B will be. According to RADM Brophy, they will work the tactics, techniques, procedures (TTPs) for the CMV-22Bs along with CAPT Chaney, as it will enter into NAWDC through the rotary wing school in NAWDC, but its ultimate location for cross platform training, in a command increasingly focused on such training with a kill web focus, will be determined.After my visit to NAWDC in July 2020, I went to San Diego and met with the Air Boss on the morning of July 13th and in the afternoon with “Chainsaw.” During my visit with the Osprey squadron, I had a chance to see the third Osprey on the tarmac, and visit the hangar being used to stand up the squadron.
In my discussion with “Chainsaw” at North Island, we discussed the standup of the CMV-22B squadrons. The first squadron VRM-30 was stood up prior to the creation of the wing and its first aircraft arrived in June 2020. CAPT Chaney noted that there is a two-year timeline to get a fully qualified maintenance technician or officer to the force, so that has been underway. That training has been generated with the Marines in North Carolina, Hawaii, Kuwait, or working side by side with Marines in various locations or in the Bell-Boeing Teams at the Maritime Response Team’s in Miramar.
CAPT Chaney then noted that this October, the Fleet Replacement Squadron, VRM-50, will be stood up. It will take this squadron two years until they will be able to train new pilots. As he explained, with VRM-30, they need to get pilots ready to go fly and go on deployment. “Whereas with VRM-50, they have to get pilots and maintainers qualified, but then they also have to figure out how to train other pilots and aircrewman in other words to establish the Navy training cycle for the aircraft.”
He noted that the Navy will approach operating its Osprey in some ways differently from the Marines, but because of the interactive working relationships any learning on the Navy side can be easily be transferred on the Marine side. “I see it as a very symbiotic relationship between the Marine Corps and us, all under the Department of the Navy. Clearly with the Marine Corps having the bulk of the experience right now in MV-22s, I welcome any of their lessons learned and comments about maintaining the airplane, flying the airplane, fighting with the airplane. I’m all ears, because I know that my
But one example of cross learning might be with regard to how the Navy will operate the load outs and off-loading of the aircraft. They are looking to have a rapid unload capability with new containers for the CMV-22B and Navy experience with the new kit might well prove of interest to the Marine Corps as well. The counterpart to VRM-30 will be VRM40 but all three squadrons are under the Wing. The third squadron will be on the East Coast.
And as the Osprey comes to the fleet, building appropriate infrastructure is a key priority facing the Wing in the next few years. At North Island, San Diego, their first simulator will come next year, and a new hangar is being built and will be ready in 2023. But the East Coast basing solution remains to be resolved.
With regard to the standup, the Wing Commander comes from the rotary wing community; his Deputy from the C-2 community. The challenge is blending the two into a tiltrotor force which operates at a different altitude from the C-2, can fly night shipboard missions (which the C-2 did not), and rapid, efficient shipboard operations, which has not been the core focus of the USMC and their use of the aircraft.
In short, it is clear that the CMV-22B needs to prepare for carrier operations but equally the carrier community needs to get ready for the coming of CMV-22B.
As CAPT Chaney put it: “The CMV-22 has the capability to internally carry the F-35C engine power module. This capability is a game changer for the Air Wing of the Future and drove the need to match up the F-35C and CMV-22 operational deployments. The first CMV-22 deployment is now less than a year from initial delivery of N3, which is scheduled for late June of this year. “Its success is key to maintaining combat lethality for the Air Wing of the future and our Navy. CMV-22s will operate from all aircraft carriers providing a significant range increase for operations from the Sea Bases enabling Combatant Commanders to exercise increased flexibility and options for warfare dominance. “If you’re in a fight, it’s always good to have options. Every month following the first initial deployment, there will be a CMV-22 detachment operating with a U.S. aircraft carrier somewhere in the world.”
We then focused on the case of the U.S. Navy replacing the C-2 with the CMV-22 in the resupply role. But the Navy would be foolish to simply think in terms of strictly C-2 replacement lines and missions. So how should the Navy operate, modernize, and leverage its Ospreys? For Vice Admiral Miller, the initial task is to get the Osprey onboard the carrier and integrated with CVW operations. But while doing so, it is important to focus on how the Osprey working within the CVW can provide a more integrated force. Vice Admiral Miller and his team are looking for the first five-year period in operating the CMV-22 for the Navy to think through the role of the Osprey as a transformative force, which can expand operations to support a carrier from afloat resupply assets as well.
When at Amarillo, for the Reveal Ceremony, I had my first interaction with CAPT Dewon “Chainsaw” Chaney, the Commander of COMVRMWING (Fleet Logistics MultiMission Wing) who will command three squadrons of CMV22Bs as they are stood up. At the ceremony, CAPT Chaney highlighted the coming of the new capability and what it meant for the U.S. Navy. “What is the status of the CODs? Every Carrier Air Wing Commander and Carrier CO has received that question numerous times from the Carrier Strike Group Commander while on deployment. And for good reason, the COD, or Carrier On-Board Delivery, aircraft is the only longrange aerial logistics platform providing logistical support for the Carrier Strike Group, ensuring its time sensitive combat capability. Sure, there are ways to get some items to the carrier but that time lag in most cases is at the cost of readiness for the warfare commander. The Navy saw the need to replace the aircraft providing this critical capability years ago and embarked on multiple efforts to inform that decision. The Navy selected V-22 as the future COD platform. The first aircraft is being delivered today (well actually a week ago but who is counting). And our first deployment will be here in a blink of an eye!”
This July, I visited the Naval Aviation Warfare Development Center (NAWDC) based at Naval Air Station Fallon, NV. New Navy air platforms coming into the force are worked into the air wing, and the team lead by Rear Admiral Brophy, the CO of NAWDC, are clearly focused on the integratable air wing. Yet the C-2 never was a plankowner in NAWDC, but the CMV-22B will be. According to RADM Brophy, they will work the tactics, techniques, procedures (TTPs) for the CMV-22Bs along with CAPT Chaney, as it will enter into NAWDC through the rotary wing school in NAWDC, but its ultimate location for cross platform training, in a command increasingly focused on such training with a kill web focus, will be determined.After my visit to NAWDC in July 2020, I went to San Diego and met with the Air Boss on the morning of July 13th and in the afternoon with “Chainsaw.” During my visit with the Osprey squadron, I had a chance to see the third Osprey on the tarmac, and visit the hangar being used to stand up the squadron.
In my discussion with “Chainsaw” at North Island, we discussed the standup of the CMV-22B squadrons. The first squadron VRM-30 was stood up prior to the creation of the wing and its first aircraft arrived in June 2020. CAPT Chaney noted that there is a two-year timeline to get a fully qualified maintenance technician or officer to the force, so that has been underway. That training has been generated with the Marines in North Carolina, Hawaii, Kuwait, or working side by side with Marines in various locations or in the Bell-Boeing Teams at the Maritime Response Team’s in Miramar.
CAPT Chaney then noted that this October, the Fleet Replacement Squadron, VRM-50, will be stood up. It will take this squadron two years until they will be able to train new pilots. As he explained, with VRM-30, they need to get pilots ready to go fly and go on deployment. “Whereas with VRM-50, they have to get pilots and maintainers qualified, but then they also have to figure out how to train other pilots and aircrewman in other words to establish the Navy training cycle for the aircraft.”
He noted that the Navy will approach operating its Osprey in some ways differently from the Marines, but because of the interactive working relationships any learning on the Navy side can be easily be transferred on the Marine side. “I see it as a very symbiotic relationship between the Marine Corps and us, all under the Department of the Navy. Clearly with the Marine Corps having the bulk of the experience right now in MV-22s, I welcome any of their lessons learned and comments about maintaining the airplane, flying the airplane, fighting with the airplane. I’m all ears, because I know that my
But one example of cross learning might be with regard to how the Navy will operate the load outs and off-loading of the aircraft. They are looking to have a rapid unload capability with new containers for the CMV-22B and Navy experience with the new kit might well prove of interest to the Marine Corps as well. The counterpart to VRM-30 will be VRM40 but all three squadrons are under the Wing. The third squadron will be on the East Coast.
And as the Osprey comes to the fleet, building appropriate infrastructure is a key priority facing the Wing in the next few years. At North Island, San Diego, their first simulator will come next year, and a new hangar is being built and will be ready in 2023. But the East Coast basing solution remains to be resolved.
With regard to the standup, the Wing Commander comes from the rotary wing community; his Deputy from the C-2 community. The challenge is blending the two into a tiltrotor force which operates at a different altitude from the C-2, can fly night shipboard missions (which the C-2 did not), and rapid, efficient shipboard operations, which has not been the core focus of the USMC and their use of the aircraft.
In short, it is clear that the CMV-22B needs to prepare for carrier operations but equally the carrier community needs to get ready for the coming of CMV-22B.
As CAPT Chaney put it: “The CMV-22 has the capability to internally carry the F-35C engine power module. This capability is a game changer for the Air Wing of the Future and drove the need to match up the F-35C and CMV-22 operational deployments. The first CMV-22 deployment is now less than a year from initial delivery of N3, which is scheduled for late June of this year. “Its success is key to maintaining combat lethality for the Air Wing of the future and our Navy. CMV-22s will operate from all aircraft carriers providing a significant range increase for operations from the Sea Bases enabling Combatant Commanders to exercise increased flexibility and options for warfare dominance. “If you’re in a fight, it’s always good to have options. Every month following the first initial deployment, there will be a CMV-22 detachment operating with a U.S. aircraft carrier somewhere in the world.”
Tilt-rotor Osprey starts replacing the C-2 Greyhound on board US aircraft carriers
Variant CMV-22B will be the new U.S. Navy personnel and cargo aircraft
BY RICARDO MEIER FEBRUARY 10, 2020
The first CMV-22B Osprey (Bell-Boeing)
One of the oldest aircraft used by the U.S. Navy on board its aircraft carriers will begin to be replaced soon. The C-2A Greyhound turboprop, manufactured by Northrop Grumman in the 1960s, will leave the scene by 2024 for the CMV-22B to enter service.
Despite the little-known acronym, it is a variant of transporting personnel and cargo on the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor from Bell and Boeing. The first of 48 aircraft ordered was delivered by the two manufacturers on Monday in Amarillo, TexasOne of the oldest aircraft used by the U.S. Navy on board its aircraft carriers will begin to be replaced soon. The C-2A Greyhound turboprop, manufactured by Northrop Grumman in the 1960s, will leave the scene by 2024 for the CMV-22B to enter service.
Despite the little-known acronym, it is a variant of transporting personnel and cargo on the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor from Bell and Boeing. The first of 48 aircraft ordered was delivered by the two manufacturers on Monday in Amarillo, Texas.
One of the oldest aircraft used by the U.S. Navy on board its aircraft carriers will begin to be replaced soon. The C-2A Greyhound turboprop, manufactured by Northrop Grumman in the 1960s, will leave the scene by 2024 for the CMV-22B to enter service.
Despite the little-known acronym, it is a variant of transporting personnel and cargo on the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor from Bell and Boeing. The first of 48 aircraft ordered was delivered by the two manufacturers on Monday in Amarillo, Texas.
“The CMV-22B brings expanded capabilities not only to the carrier onboard delivery mission, but to the high-end fight,” said U.S. Navy Captain Dewon Chaney, Commodore, Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Wing. “We are anxious to get it to the fleet and show off its immense capabilities and agile flexibility.”
After flying for the first time in December, the CMV-22B will now be allocated at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego and Naval Air Station Norfolk. To speed up training, members of the U.S. Navy trained with the U.S. Marine Corps, which have operated the Osprey since 2007.
In addition to being able to take off and land vertically, Osprey can also carry 6,000 pounds over a distance of 1,150 miles. According to Bell and Boeing, it is the only onboard aircraft capable of taking engine components from the F-35C fighter directly to the flight deck.
Despite the little-known acronym, it is a variant of transporting personnel and cargo on the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor from Bell and Boeing. The first of 48 aircraft ordered was delivered by the two manufacturers on Monday in Amarillo, TexasOne of the oldest aircraft used by the U.S. Navy on board its aircraft carriers will begin to be replaced soon. The C-2A Greyhound turboprop, manufactured by Northrop Grumman in the 1960s, will leave the scene by 2024 for the CMV-22B to enter service.
Despite the little-known acronym, it is a variant of transporting personnel and cargo on the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor from Bell and Boeing. The first of 48 aircraft ordered was delivered by the two manufacturers on Monday in Amarillo, Texas.
One of the oldest aircraft used by the U.S. Navy on board its aircraft carriers will begin to be replaced soon. The C-2A Greyhound turboprop, manufactured by Northrop Grumman in the 1960s, will leave the scene by 2024 for the CMV-22B to enter service.
Despite the little-known acronym, it is a variant of transporting personnel and cargo on the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor from Bell and Boeing. The first of 48 aircraft ordered was delivered by the two manufacturers on Monday in Amarillo, Texas.
“The CMV-22B brings expanded capabilities not only to the carrier onboard delivery mission, but to the high-end fight,” said U.S. Navy Captain Dewon Chaney, Commodore, Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Wing. “We are anxious to get it to the fleet and show off its immense capabilities and agile flexibility.”
After flying for the first time in December, the CMV-22B will now be allocated at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego and Naval Air Station Norfolk. To speed up training, members of the U.S. Navy trained with the U.S. Marine Corps, which have operated the Osprey since 2007.
In addition to being able to take off and land vertically, Osprey can also carry 6,000 pounds over a distance of 1,150 miles. According to Bell and Boeing, it is the only onboard aircraft capable of taking engine components from the F-35C fighter directly to the flight deck.
The U.S. Navy will receive 48 CMV-22B Osprey tilt-rotors that will be used on board the aircraft carrier fleet (Bell-Boeing)
Hawkeye’s brother
The C-2 Greyhound was introduced in the U.S. Navy in 1966 to replace the C-1 Trader, a variant of the well-known anti-submarine aircraft S-2 Tracker. Designed by Grumman, the C-2 was an adaptation of the E-2 Hawkeye radar aircraft with a wider fuselage to accommodate 26 passengers or 10,000 pounds of cargo.
In 1984, the U.S. Navy placed a new order for the turboprop but with improvements in avionics and airframe and named C-2A (R). Grumman delivered 39 units by 1990 that replaced the original C-2A’s and expanded the aircraft’s fleet.
In the mid-2000s, 36 Greyhound aircraft underwent a life extension program, in addition to receiving a glass cockpit. The most visible modification, however, was the adoption of a set of propellers with eight blades. The reform made it possible for the C-2A (R) to fly until 2027, but the Navy decided to accelerate its replacement with Osprey over the next four years.
The C-2A(R) Greyhound will be taken out of service by 2024
Hawkeye’s brother
The C-2 Greyhound was introduced in the U.S. Navy in 1966 to replace the C-1 Trader, a variant of the well-known anti-submarine aircraft S-2 Tracker. Designed by Grumman, the C-2 was an adaptation of the E-2 Hawkeye radar aircraft with a wider fuselage to accommodate 26 passengers or 10,000 pounds of cargo.
In 1984, the U.S. Navy placed a new order for the turboprop but with improvements in avionics and airframe and named C-2A (R). Grumman delivered 39 units by 1990 that replaced the original C-2A’s and expanded the aircraft’s fleet.
In the mid-2000s, 36 Greyhound aircraft underwent a life extension program, in addition to receiving a glass cockpit. The most visible modification, however, was the adoption of a set of propellers with eight blades. The reform made it possible for the C-2A (R) to fly until 2027, but the Navy decided to accelerate its replacement with Osprey over the next four years.
The C-2A(R) Greyhound will be taken out of service by 2024