Forward-firing Osprey gun not a done deal

[unhappycamper]

Forward-firing Osprey gun not a done deal
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 22, 2008 6:59:41 EDT

The Marine Corps is looking to outfit MV-22 Ospreys headed to Iraq with a forward-firing, all-quadrant gun, a top program official said.

The weaponry milestone could be in use by the third MV-22 squadron deployment into Iraq, said Col. Matt Mulhern, V-22 Program Manager at Naval Air Systems Command, speaking at the annual Navy League Sea-Air-Space Expo in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

A dozen MV-22s are operating in Iraq with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263. The unit is expected to rotate home in the coming month and will be replaced by VMM-162, Mulhern said.

The weapon, a 7.62mm mini-gun, is considered an interim system and will be installed on the U.S. Special Operations Command Osprey variant, the CV-22, by September, Mulhern said. The weapon, called the Remote Guardian System, is made by BAE Systems.

The Marine Corps will be “watching that,” with the goal of eventually outfitting its variant, the MV-22, with the same weapon, Mulhern said.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/03/marine_ospreygunupdate_032108/