Iraq missions testing crew, aircraft limits

[Vulture6]

December 18, 2006

Air support stretched thin
Aviation official: Iraq missions testing crew, aircraft limits

By Kimberly Johnson
Staff writer
www.marinecorpstimes.com


The war in Iraq is putting the squeeze on the Corps’ aviation resources, according to one of its top officials.

The pressure could become pronounced as the service focuses on keeping its older birds up and running while waiting for new programs, including the V-22 Osprey next year and the F-35 Lightning II (JSF) by 2008, said Lt. Gen. John Castellaw, deputy commandant for aviation.

The Corps’ aviation arm in Iraq consists of nine squadrons and about 130 aircraft. About 25 percent of the total Marine aviation force is devoted to the war, with about 6,000 troops in country, Castellaw said.

Marine aircraft are logging an average of three to four times more flight hours than normal, he told reporters Dec. 7.

F/A-18 Hornets, for example, are averaging about 1,000 hours a year — more than three times their planned usage, said aviation spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas.

Aside from the wear and tear on aviation crews, the extended combat flight times are pushing more aircraft into the maintenance bay, Castellaw said. Depot-level repairs are growing more extensive.

The CH-53D and E helicopters are logging so many flight hours in Iraq that mechanics often find significant piles of sand under the floorboards and more sand clogging the engines when they start stripping them down for repair, he added.

Desert sand is a powerful abrasive in engine components, but mechanics are doing what they can to keep the helicopters running.

In an effort to extend the life of the CH-53s, for example, titanium blades are installed to help combat erosion, Castellaw said.

This widening need for depot-level attention is taking aircraft offline for significant periods of time, which can cut into pilot training hours.

“We’re seeing a decline in the level of training,” Castellaw said.

The only way to counter this problem is to send more stateside aircraft to the combat zone and keep the planes already in theater operational, Castellaw said.

The fear of running short of aircraft is a very real one for Marine commanders.

“We’re concerned with any slippage,” Castellaw said.

Keeping the Vietnam-era CH-53E in the air until 2015 when its replacement, the CH-53K, will be ready is one top concern. The Corps needs about 161 Super Stallions to fulfill requirements; it has 153.

“You can see right there we have a gap,” Fazekas said. “They’ve got to last until 2015.”

The limited number of UH-1N Hueys and AH-1W Super Cobras, both slated for upgrades in 2008, is increasing the deployment pace for the aircraft and crews. Squadrons typically operate on a 1-to-2 deployment-to-dwell ratio, where a seven-month deployment is offset by 14 months in the rear.

However, Huey and Cobra squadrons, are averaging a 1-to-1 deployment ratio. “That puts a lot of wear and tear on the aircraft and people,” Fazekas said.

Squadrons are also deploying with fewer aircraft. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Corps had about 15 tactical aircraft for each infantry battalion, Castellaw said. Today’s tally is about 33 percent less, with an average of about 10 aircraft per battalion.

In the future, that number will dip to about six per battalion, he added.

But relief is on the horizon, Corps officials say. The long-anticipated F-35, slated to take over for the AV-8B Harrier II, the Hornet and the EA-6B Prowler, will be a combat multitasker. Commanders will be able to use a variety of “plug-and-play” technology, including aerial surveillance pods, which will give them more flexibility on the battlefield, they say.

The F-35 is more than a “bomb truck,” the aviation chief said. It’s “a multipurpose platform plane that will allow us to provide situational awareness to the guys and gals on the ground.”

“Our focus, from the beginning, is on the Marine infantryman,” he added. “That focus is on enabling the rifleman to be successful.”

The F-35 will take its first flight sometime this month in Fort Worth, Texas, Castellaw said. The Corps’ variant is expected by 2008. The Air Force and Navy are also using the jet.

The Osprey, already pushed out to two squadrons for training, will be ready for deployment in mid- to late 2007.

Castellaw would not comment on deployment specifics, but he said possible locations could include anywhere you would find Marine aircraft — namely on a ship, the Horn of Africa or Iraq.

About two squadrons per year will be converted into Osprey squadrons, Castellaw said.

Marines say the tilt-rotor aircraft will fly twice as fast, twice as high and three times as far as the CH-46 Sea Knight and CH-53D Sea Stallion it will replace. It will be able to carry about 24 troops fully loaded with their gear and can fly at about 13,000 feet to better protect troops from ground-level threats.