Page 65 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2021

OCTOBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
SPONSORED CONTENT 65
The Osprey coupled with the F-35 provide significant tools in enabling an entry inser- tion point. The Marines are building on this advantage and looking to find new ways to shape their forces forward in the Pacific – and to do so with enhanced joint and allied cooperation.
There is also the significant impact which
evolving payload options for the Osprey pro-
vide. In the Deep Water Exercise held at 2nd
Marine Aircraft Wing last year, the Osprey
operated as the C2 command node for a distributed insertion force. In other words, the assault support community can de- liver a wider array of payloads than simply direct kinetic force.
1 Robbin Laird, “The USMC in the Pacific and the Role of Exercises,” Second Line of Defense (April 8, 2014), https://sldinfo.com/2014/04/the-usmc-shift-in-the-pacific- and-the-role-of-exercises-a-marforpac-perspective/
2 Robbin Laird, ‘Crisis Management and Pacific Defense: The View from I MEF,’ Second Line of Defense (July 9, 2021), https://sldinfo.com/2021/07/crisis-management-and- pacific-defense-the-view-from-i-mef/
3 Robbin Laird, ‘The Way Ahead for the CMV-22B: The Integratable Air wing and the USS Carl Vinson,’ Second Line of Defense (April 6, 2021), https://sldinfo.com/2021/04/ the-way-ahead-for-the-cmv-22b-the-integratable-air-wing-and-the-uss-carl-vinson/
With the flexibility inherent in the Os- prey’s roll-on roll off capability, a variety of mission support elements can now be added to the unique tiltrotor-enabled ‘range and speed’. And with an ability to put interior fuel cells into the Osprey, endurance is in- creased as well.
And now the US Navy’s version, the CMV- 22B, is joining the USMC’s MV-22 Ospreys. This will expand the capabilities to do lo- gistical support across the fleet, including
mobile or expeditionary basing ashore.3 The Osprey is a key change agent for how the US Navy and the USMC will work their integrated operations going forward. ■
AUTHOR: Dr. Robbin F. Laird is a Columbia University alumnus and long-time analyst of global defense issues. He has worked in the U.S. government and several think tanks, including the Center for Naval Analysis and the Institute for Defense Analysis. He is a frequent contributor to the defence press and has written several books on international security issues.
“THE OSPREY COUPLED WITH THE F-35 PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT TOOLS IN ENABLING AN ENTRY INSERTION POINT”