All-quadrant gun set for Osprey installation

[unhappycamper]

Tilt-Rotor Turrets
New guns being tested for CV-22s


All-quadrant gun set for Osprey installation
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jan 4, 2009 9:24:35 EST

Special Operations Command remains on track to install all-quadrant 7.62mm Gatling guns underneath seven Air Force Special Operations Command CV-22 Ospreys in 2009, a SOCOM program manager said.

The 413th Flight Test Squadron is testing the turret-mounted gun at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. It has passed a series of tests including firing from a hover in August, said Dave Adamiak, a BAE Systems official.

Air Force requirements officials chose not to install a forward-firing gun on the Osprey at the beginning of its two-decade-long development to cut costs. A ramp-mounted .50-caliber machine gun was installed instead.

Critics had ripped defense acquisition officials for designing a tilt-rotor aircraft to infiltrate behind enemy lines and deliver special operations troops without an all-quadrant weapons system.

But in 2007, the Defense Department awarded a contract to BAE Systems to quickly deliver seven Remote Guardian Systems and install them onto CV-22 Ospreys for AFSOC deployments.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/01/airforce_osprey_gun_010409/%2e