Tag: Aircraft

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Legislators step in on military aircraft noise

As the Marine Corps proposes to expand in Hawaiʻi, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that even the military communities in Kailua and Kāneʻohe are already complaining about aircraft noise and safety.  William Cole writes “Legislators step in on military noise” (August 12, 2012):

Resident complaints about noise from close-flying military planes and helicopters using the Kaneohe Marine base are being raised with federal lawmakers at a time when 53,000 flight operations annually are expected to soar to nearly 79,000 in coming years.

Four state legislators — Rep. Pono Chong, Rep. Cynthia Thielen, Rep. Ken Ito and Sen. Jill Tokuda — sent a letter last week to Hawaii’s congressional delegation asking that they conduct a public meeting over the aircraft noise.

“Our constituents have expressed concerns about noise from military aircraft flights, particularly noise that can be heard from schools, businesses and private residences,” the letter says. “Such noise is not solely caused by operations at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii-Kaneohe Bay. Aircraft from other branches of the military also use (the base).”

Ever since the Navy acquired 464 acres on Mokapu Peninsula in 1939 for a PBY Catalina seaplane base, aircraft have been flying overhead.

In the ongoing evolution of the air station, the latest concerns are over Marine Corps, Army and perhaps Navy helicopters overflying Aikahi Park houses — rattling jalousie windows as they go — before landing near the base’s helicopter hangars.

Another sore spot: Air Force C-17 Globemaster cargo carriers practice touch-and-go landings, with flight routes taking the big jets near the Kaneohe Bay shoreline and, some residents say, over land and homes, drowning out televisions.

P-3 Orion propeller planes also stray too far and too low over Kaneohe Bay and Enchanted Lake neighborhoods, some say.

And that’s before 18 P-8A Poseidon jets, up to 24 MV-22 tilt-rotor Ospreys and the majority of 27 AH-1 Cobra and UH-1 Huey helicopters arrive, along with 900 aviation personnel associated with the Ospreys and choppers.

The Marines say that they cannot move the flight path of helicopters over the sea because of the live fire training area at Ulupau crater.

In a July 24 letter to Thielen, Marine Corps Base Hawaii commander Col. Brian Annichiarico said the helicopter flight path was modified so aircraft use the path suggested by Vericker.

Vericker said he’s seen inconsistent Marine Corps efforts made in reducing the aircraft noise, and while Annichiarico, who took command in November, has been successful in reducing some of the racket, it’s “the loudest it’s been in the last couple of years in the 30 years that we’ve lived here.”

Thielen also noted Annichiarico’s involvement, saying he is making “every effort” to keep aircraft away from residential areas.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii said in an email that the departure route takes rotary wing aircraft on the base side of the center line of Nuu­pia Ponds at altitudes of 600 to 800 feet above the ground.

Officials said helicopters heading east from the base are unable to go around the peninsula, around Ulu­pau Crater and out to sea, due to the location of the live-fire range at Ulu­pau. A departure around the peninsula also would increase flight time to training areas and waste fuel, the Marines said.

Asked about P-3 Orions and C-17 cargo jets flying low over homes, the base said all aircraft fly in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration rules. For congested areas, the FAA says fixed-wing aircraft must be at least 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a 2,000-foot horizontal radius.

“In addition to the FAA rules, (the base) has developed more restrictive course rules that keep the flight path of fixed-wing aviation over water as they approach the runway,” the Corps said in the statement. “Occasionally the aircraft may not be able to maintain their course over water and overfly land but do so in accordance with FAA regulations and safety of flight.”

Ulupau is also a bird sanctuary:


Could some aircraft may be reassigned to Washington State?

The Marine Corps air station was selected by the Navy for 18 P-8A Poseidon sub-hunting aircraft as a replacement for the aging P-3 Orion propellor aircraft, but the Navy reportedly is trying to shift the Hawaii jets to Whidbey Island in Washington state in a cost-saving move.

We shall see. . .

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Opposition to MV-22 Ospreys grows

Photo: Walter Ritte

From different sectors of the community there is growing opposition to the proposed stationing of MV-22 Osprey and Cobra attack helicopters at Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay and their plans to train across the islands.

Molokai residents are mobilizing against the Marine Corps proposal to station Ospreys tilt-rotor aircraft and Cobra helicopters in Hawaiʻi. The proposed plan would include flight training and landing on most of the islands, including Hoʻolehua and Kalaupapa on Molokai.  In the photo above, a kuahu (shrine) was built in Hoʻolehua as a protest against the military expansion.

The Marines have been engaged in a process to consult with Native Hawaiian individuals and entities to establish a programmatic agreement for the treatment of cultural sites and artifacts under Sec. 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. But the process has been extremely frustrating to the Native Hawaiian participants because the military is essentially ignoring the key recommendations being put forward by the cultural practitioners.  Basically the military is reserving its authority to define what is and is not culturally significant.  This is the same problem with the Army and its expansion plans in Lihuʻe (Schofield) and Pohakuloa.  The military is ignoring Native Hawaiian input, and in some cases, buying more favorable Native Hawaiian input by assembling their own Native Hawaiian group that supports the military’s plans.

A Kāneʻohe Neighborhood Board member Bill Sager wrote in the Hawaii Independent:

Without exception at all official EIS review meetings, Windward Neighborhood Board meetings and spontaneous community meetings, fears have been expressed concerning the impacts of the proposal on Koolaupoko.

People have expressed concerns ranging from the increased noise, impacts of noise on student learning, potential dangers posed by the safety record of the Osprey and the impacts of added personnel requiring housing in the Kailua and Kaneohe communities. Hawaiian groups have expressed concern over the impact of construction activities on graves and other cultural features.

Because noise has been the overriding community concern, aircraft noise and it’s impacts on our community is the focus of this statement. The bottom line is that the noise models used in the EIS are flawed and our community will not be able to evaluate noise impacts until we actually hear them.

[. . .]

·       The model used to determine noise levels did not have mountains in model at end of takeoff end of runway. We know from experience that the cliffs surrounding Kaneohe reflect, echo and amplify aircraft noise.

·      The model used 737-700 when the P8A(replacement for P3) produces approximately 10 times more noise when using a short takeoff runway.  http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/mma/

·       What is the dBAs for 737-800 during a full power brake release take off?  I have read in a Boeing briefing that at break release the noise level at 8.9nm is around 85dbs. This does not match the numbers in the final EIS, Annex D.

·       Believe the dbBA numbers have been average over 24hours which will give MUCH lower readings. Therefore, the numbers for schools might look ok but as the studies show average over ONE HOUR!  What is important is not the average noise, but it is the peak noise generated during landings and takeoffs.

The length of runway at Kaneohe Marine Base will required the P8A to use full military power to take off.  Source is article from Whidbey Island, WA were an elected official, Angie Homola is quoted.  Her website is:  https://fortress.wa.gov/ga/apps/sbcc/Page.aspx?cid=898

·       King Intermediate School and 4 other schools are close to being at end of runway.  http://public-schools.findthebest.com

NOISE LEVEL EFFECT ON CHILDREN   Annex D.3.7 covers school effects on children in schools.

·       The following is quoted from Annex D.3.7.1,  Effects on Learning and Cognitive Abilities.   “The ANSI acoustical performance criteria for schools include the requirement that the one-hour-average background noise levels shall not exceed 35dBA in core learning spaces smaller than 20,000 cubic-feet and 40dBA in core learning spaces with enclosed volumes exceeding 20, 000 cubic-feet.  This would require schools be constructed such that, in quiet neighborhoods indoor noise levels are lowered by 15 to 20 dBA relative to outdoor levels.  In schools near airports, indoor noise would have to be lowered by 35 to 45 dBA relative to outdoor levels(ANSI 2002).”

Paragraph 6 of Annex D.3.7.1    “ Similar, a 1994 study found that students exposed to aircraft noise of approximately 76 dBA scored 20% lower on recall ability tests than students exposed to ambient noise of 42-44 dBA(Hygge 1994).  “The Haines and Stansfeld study indicated that there may be some long-term effects associated with exposure, as one-year follow-up testing still demonstrated lowered scores for children in higher noise schools(Haines, et al. 2001a and 2001b).

Representative Cynthia Thielen (R) has been working with constituents from the Kāneʻohe area to oppose the Osprey.  She submitted comments on the Marine Corps environmental impact statement (EIS) that were critical of the noise studies. Her comments can be viewed here:  Rep Thielen comments on Navy FEIS 7 10 12

 

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Osprey crashes, Japanese city rejects Osprey, and Marines want to bring Osprey to Hawai’i?

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reported that”Marines’ copter plan raises fear of noise” (June 12, 2012):

The public has nearly a month to weigh in on Marine Corps plans to station MV-22 tiltrotor Osprey and H-1 Cobra and Huey attack-utility helicopter squadrons at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, but any community opposition likely will boil down to a single topic, according to the secretary of the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board.

“In one word,” said Bill Sager, “it’s the noise.”

[. . .]

“Several people have expressed concerns to me,” he said.

While the Marines opened a 30-day comment period on their proposals last week, “People will have no way of evaluating the noise impact of an Osprey until they actually hear it,” Sager said.

It seems a  major concern for us in Hawai’i ought to be safety.   Today, an CV-22 Osprey crashed in Florida, injuring five: 

An Air Force CV-22 Osprey crashed Wednesday during a routine training mission north of Navarre, Florida, injuring five crew members aboard, a military official said.

In April two U.S. troops died in an Osprey crash in Morocco.   Last March, a Marine pilot died and radioactive strontium 90 was released into Kane’ohe Bay when helicopter crashed on Ahu o Laka sandbar in the bay.

Okinawans have been strongly opposing the stationing of Osprey aircraft.  The city of Iwakuni on the main island of Honshu was proposed as a temporary base for the Osprey until facilities were available in Okinawa.  However, Japan Today reports that “Iwakuni balks at U.S. deployment of Osprey aircraft” (June 13, 2012):

Safety concerns after a recent crash have put plans to briefly deploy the U.S. Osprey aircraft to a city in Yamaguchi Prefecture on hold, officials said Tuesday.

Opposition to the plan to temporarily base the helicopter-like planes in the city of Iwakuni has been rising since the fatal crash in April left two Marines dead in Morocco.

Japan’s defense minister said Tuesday he may go to the city of Iwakuni to persuade local officials to accept the temporary deployment. But after meeting with ministry officials on Monday Iwakuni’s mayor said he needs more assurances that the aircraft is safe.

The Marine Corps released a Final Environmental Impact Statement on its proposals on the basing and statewide training of Osprey tiltrotor and Cobra and Huey attack-utility helicopter squadrons.   The 30-day comment period began Friday June 8.  The proposal is to expand the Marine Corps in Hawai’i :

  • 24 MV-22 Osprey aircraft
  • 18 AH-1Z Viper Super Cobra helicopters
  • 9 UH-1Y Huey helicopters
  • 1,000 Military personnel
  • 1,106 Family members

The Marine Corps helicopter Environmental Impact Statement can be viewed at:

  • Written comments on the EIS must be postmarked or received online by July 11 to become part of the official rec ord.
  • Comments can be made online by selecting the “contact” tab at www.mcbh.usmc.mil/mv22h1eis/ index.html or by mail to: Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific 258 Makalapa Drive, Suite 100 Pearl Harbor, HI 96860-3134 Attn: EV21, MV-22/H-1 EIS Project Manager

 

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Searching for answers and accountability in recent military aircraft crashes

In April 9, 2010, an Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashed in Afghanistan killing four people.

Almost two years to the day after the crash in Afghanistan, the AP reported “Two U.S. troops die in helicopter crash in Morocco” (April 11, 2012):

Two U.S. Marines were killed and two severely injured in the crash of a hybrid aircraft in Morocco on Wednesday, officials said.

The Marines were taking part in joint U.S.-Moroccan military excercises located in the south of the country based in Agadir, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Rodney Ford in Rabat, who gave the toll.

[…]

The aircraft was participating in a U.S.-Moroccan military exercise known as “African Lion.”

[…]

The MV-22, a joint venture of Boeing Co. and Textron Inc.’s Bell Helicopter, is designed to carry 24 combat troops and fly twice as fast as the Vietnam War-era assault helicopters it was to replace.

The Osprey program was nearly scrapped after a history of mechanical failures and two test crashes that killed 23 Marines in 2000. But development continued, and the aircraft have been deployed to Iraq.

While the General Accounting Office questioned the Osprey’s performance in a report last year, the Marine Corps has called it effective.

An Air Force version of the aircraft crashed in Afghanistan in April 2010, killing three service members and one civilian contractor.

The Osprey has been the subject of intense controversy with critics pointing to the exorbitant cost and accident rate, and proponents citing the utility of the aircraft. The Marines  have been able to keep the program alive through the rough and tumble budget wars in Washington.  The Marines now propose to bring a fleet of Osprey to the Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay and to Takae in Okinawa.

Meanwhile, ABC News reported that the widow of a F-22 Raptor pilot who died in a crash in Alaska is suing the manufacturer for a faulty design that led to the crash, “F-22 Crash Widow Sues Lockheed Martin for Wrongful Death” (March 13, 2012):

The widow of the F-22 Raptor pilot who died after a malfunction in his jet cut off his oxygen system during a training mission in Alaska is suing the F-22 manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, and other major defense contracting companies for wrongful death, negligence and fraud.

Anna Haney, wife of the late Capt. Jeff Haney, filed a complaint in an Illinois court Monday alleging Lockheed knowingly sold the U.S. Air Force “dangerous and defective” planes that did not provide life support systems “that would allow our pilots to survive even routine training missions, such as the one that killed” Haney, according to a report by the Courthouse News Service.

In addition to Lockheed Martin, the suit names other major defense contractors such as Boeing, Honeywell International and Pratt and Whitney — all involved in various aspects of the F-22’s systems — as defendants. The complaint also alleges that the U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin millions of dollars on a new contract to investigate and solve ongoing problems with the planes’ life support systems.

[…]

Capt. Jeff Haney was killed in November 2010 when, after completing a training mission over the Alaskan wilderness, a malfunction in his $143 million plane caused his oxygen system to shut off completely, causing him to experience “a sense similar to suffocation,” according to the Air Force’s investigative report into the incident. Haney’s plane entered a sharp dive and, seconds later, crashed, spreading debris more than a quarter mile.

After more than a year-long investigation into the crash, the Air Force concluded that he was at fault for crashing the plane.

“The [investigation] board president found, by clear and convincing evidence, the cause of the mishap was the [pilot’s] failure to recognize and initiate a timely dive recovery due to channelized attention, breakdown of visual scan, and unrecognized spatial disorientation,” the December 2011 report said, essentially saying Haney was too distracted by the lack of oxygen to fly the plane properly. The report also noted other contributing factors in the crash but said it was still a mystery as to what caused the original malfunction.

In November 2010, the Anchorage Daily News reported “Airforce pilot dies in F22 crash” (November 20, 2010):

The pilot of an F-22 Raptor fighter jet that went down Tuesday during a training flight over Interior Alaska died in the crash, Col. Jack McMullen, commander of the Air Force’s 3rd Wing, said Friday.

[…]

F-22 emergencies

According to the Air Force, there have been four emergency incidents with the Raptor or its prototypes, including three crashes, one of which was fatal.

• March 2009: An F-22 on a test flight crashed about 35 miles northeast of Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The crash killed the pilot, a contractor for Lockheed Martin and a 21-years Air Force veteran. “Human factors associated with high gravitational forces,” caused the crash, according to an accident investigation report.

• September 2007: Loaded with eight small-diameter bombs, an F-22 suffered a brief flameout of both of its engines while conducting a midair roll. Investigators blamed an incorrect trim setting. As a result of the power loss, air traffic controllers briefly lost telemetry signals from the jet.

• December 2004: An F-22 lost electrical power shortly after taking off from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The test pilot, a lieutenant colonel, survived after ejecting just before the jet flipped and skidded across the desert floor. The Air Force ceased F-22 flight operations for 18 days following the crash.

• April 1992: A prototype to the F-22, the YF-22, slammed into an Edwards Air Force Base runway, because of a low approach taken by the test pilot, who ejected safely.

 

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“Message from Yambaru: Takae, Okinawa”

This short video shows the beautiful Yanbaru rainforest in northern Okinawa that is impacted by U.S. helicopter and jungle warfare training. The residents are fighting against the expansion of the helicopter activities, including the stationing of Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.  They have been encamped outside the military site for several years to block construction.

The Marines have proposed to bring Osprey and other helicopters to the Marine Corps Base Hawaii – Kaneohe Bay and to train with these aircraft at Pohakuloa, Waimanalo, Kahuku, and numerous other sites in the islands. The comment period on the draft EIS has just closed.

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Send in the Choppers?

Here’s a report from recent hearings for proposed Marine Corps helicopter expansion plans that were held on Hawai’i island:

http://bigislandweekly.com/news/send-in-the-choppers.html

Send in the Choppers?

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Marines unveil EIS for more helicopters here.

By Alan D. McNarie

The Marines were back in town last week, holding meetings in Waimea and Hilo to get public input on a plan to base three more squadrons of attack aircraft in the islands and train them at areas including Hawai’i Island’s Pohakuloa Training Area. As usual, they got an earful from Native Hawaiians, peace activists and concerned citizens. But they also got support from a few parents of past and former military personnel, who wanted the Corps to provide its personnel with the best training possible.

The plan would bring up to two Marine Medium Tiltrotor (VMM) squadrons and one Marine Light Attack Helicopter (HMLA) squadron to the islands, where they would be based on O’ahu and train there and on other islands. The VMM squadrons would bring with them a total 24 MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, which take off and land vertically like helicopters and fly like airplanes; a relatively recent and controversial addition to the Marine Corps Arsenal, they replace large troop-transport helicopters and have superior range and speed, but bring with them a troubled reputation for crashes, malfunctions, delays and cost overruns during their development. But when one resident brought up a troubling report about the aircraft’s performance, a Marine spokesman said those problems had largely been solved by improved parts and supply.

“Every mission that we’ve been asked to do with the V22, we have been able to do.”

The HMLA squadron is armed with 15 AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and 12 UH-1 Huey utility choppers. Hueys and Cobras have been flying with the Marines since Vietnam, but the airframes have gone through a series of updates, and the Marines are planning to replace neither with a radically different vehicle in the near future. A helicopter pilot who accompanied the Marine Team at Hilo told Big Island Weekly that while the new AH-1Z version of the Cobra has better range, performance and electronics than the current choppers, its logistics and personnel needs would be about the same.

Coming along with the aircraft would be approximately 1,000 active-duty military personnel, 22 civilian personnel (contractors and government employees), and 1,106 civilian dependents, mostly stationed on O’ahu.

On the Big Island, most of the impacts of the new squadrons would be felt, literally, at Pohakuloa. The squadrons will be using the firing range and various landing sites there, and “New construction or improvements to existing landing zones and other facilities” are expected to occur. Marine officials assured BIW that the landing sites they had identified for use in training were within PTA itself. One map on exhibit at the meetings showed possible landing zones marked in red within the training area, but also showed five landing zones, including Mauna Kea State Park, marked in black outside the PTA boundaries. Marine officials told BIW that those sites were on the map for “reference” only.

[…]

Residents expressed concerns that powdered DU, which has been linked to cancer and other ailments, could be kicked up by continued use of the Pohakuloa firing range and drift to residential areas and Waikoloa Elementary School.

“Less than one percent of the base has been surveyed, so how do you know that you’re not going to be impacting DU?” pointed out Albertini. “To say that this is outside the scope of this EIS is bogus, because you don’t know where the DU is.”

One resident wondered if DU and other heavy metals from the firing range could also get into the local groundwater supply, and noted that that the possible effects of Pohakuloa activities on groundwater were not addressed in the EIS.

In response, a Marine official admitted that “”there has never been an investigation,” of the aquifer under Pohakuloa, though the Army has gotten funding to sink two test wells.

“Nobody knows where that water is,” he said. “We will, know, probably, by 2012.”

The EIS itself raised some concerns about impacts on historic and cultural sites, though most of the ones identified were on O’ahu. The document identified no pre-contact cultural sites on the Big Island and only two historic ones: the fence wall from ranching days and “the old Kona to Waimea Government Road.” PTA has an ongoing program to protect known cultural sites. But Native Hawaiians have long complained that most of the PTA firing range has never been surveyed. At the Hilo meeting, one resident cited the lament of a Native Hawaiian who complained that he’d repeatedly been denied permission to collect “the bones of his ancestors,” which were lying exposed on the range and had been broken into smaller and smaller pieces over the years.

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Japanese military official fired for comparing base construction to ‘rape’ as Yanbaru forest comes under new attack

Ten Thousand Things blog just published an excellent update on the firing of a Japan Defense Ministry representative who compared the U.S. military construction in Okinawa to “rape.”  There is good background information links on the page for the tense situation in Takae, a forest area in northern Okinawa threatened with expansion of helicopter landing facilities.   Here’s an excerpt:

The head of the Okinawan branch of Japan’s Defense Ministry compared DC-Tokyo forced US military construction in Okinawa to “rape.” For his transparent comment about US-Tokyo strategy, Satoshi Tanaka was fired yesterday.

Japanese Defense Minister Ichikawa apologized to Okinawans for Tanaka’s remark.

In mid-November Tanaka moved ahead, despite local oppostion, with US military construction in biodiverse Yanbaru Forest, a subtropical rainforest in northern Okinawa. The U.S. Marines want to destroy one of Yanburu’s most well-preserved areas, a habitat for unique, indigenous species, to make way for military Osprey aircraft heliports.

The U.S. Marines, the manufacturer, and congressional representatives from the district in Texas in which the factory is located, have lobbied for years against the axing of the expensive, accident-prone military Osprey aircraft from the U.S. defense budget. This Iron Triangle even beat out former Vice President Dick Cheney who argued against the program. Despite extreme costs, accident risks, and no strategic value for the aircraft, US Marines have pushed to build heliports for the Osprey aircraft in Okinawa since they need someplace to put them, according to some U.S. foreign affairs analysts.

As a result, residents of Takae, an eco-village in Yanbaru Forest, have been in a cold war with the U.S. Marines for years. Residents report assaults by U.S. military helicopters against civilian protesters. Some fly low to the ground,terrorizing villagers destroying their property, and damaging forest trees. One villager reported that a U.S. soldier demanded food, at riflepoint, while laughing at her. These are just a few reports that reflect the tip of an iceberg of accounts of U.S. military injuries and intentional infliction of emotional distress upon local people.

GO TO THE WEBSITE

Meanwhile, Hawai’i (Mokapu and Pohakuloa) is threatened by a proposed increase in helicopter and Osprey training activities.  The Marine Corps is holding hearings on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.   The schedule of hearings is here.

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Costly aircraft suggests cuts won’t be easy

The New York Times published an interesting article that delves a little into the politics of the military-industrial-congressional complex and how difficult it will be to cut military programs in order to reduce the federal budget.  They focus on one example, the troubled Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which is being proposed to be stationed at the Marine Corps Base Hawai’i – Kane’ohe Bay:

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta shoved his head into a snug aviator helmet topped with goggles one September morning and swooped into Lower Manhattan on a V-22 Osprey, a $70 million aircraft that Marines use for battlefield assaults in Afghanistan.

“How’d you like that gizmo?” Mr. Panetta said after landing at the Wall Street heliport in the Osprey, which takes off like a helicopter, flies like an airplane — and has been responsible for the deaths of 30 people in test flights.

Defense Department officials say the hybrid aircraft was the fastest way to get Mr. Panetta and his entourage to New York that day. But anyone who has followed the tortured history of the Osprey over the past quarter-century saw the persistent, politically savvy hand of the Marines in arranging Mr. Panetta’s flight — and another example in what has become a case study of how hard it is to kill billion-dollar Pentagon programs.

“At a car dealership, what the salesman wants to do is get you inside the vehicle,” said Dakota Wood, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and defense analyst. “You take the test drive and wow, it’s got a great stereo, it feels good, it has that new-car smell.”

That flight with Mr. Panetta, he said, is “an insurance policy against future defense cuts.”

As a joint Congressional committee appears paralyzed days from a deadline to agree on a plan to cut the nation’s deficit, the Pentagon remains vulnerable to forced reductions over the next decade that would slash its spending by $500 billion, on top of $450 billion in cuts already in the works — a total of more than 15 percent of its operating budget.

But as Mr. Panetta considers scaling back major weapons programs, the Osprey illustrates the challenges in downsizing the world’s most expensive military. The aircraft has survived after repeated safety problems during testing, years of delays, ballooning costs and tough questions about its utility.

When President Bush tried to cut the Osprey program, the Marine Corps resisted:

But the Marines saw the aircraft as crucial to their survival as a quick-response, expeditionary force. In arguments they still make today, the Marines pressed their case that the Osprey could take off from aircraft carriers and get in and out of difficult landing zones better than airplanes and faster than helicopters, carry more people and save lives. In response to Mr. Cheney, they led a fierce counterattack, meeting with lobbyists and supporters in Congress in secret strategy sessions on Capitol Hill.

“It bordered on insubordination that the Marines conducted themselves the way they did,” said Richard Whittle, the author of the definitive book about the program, “The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey.”

“The secretary of defense had said, ‘We’re killing this program,’ ” Mr. Whittle said, “and the Marines were plotting behind the scenes with his opponents.”

[…]

“We pulled out all the stops,” Mr. Weldon recalled in a recent interview. The Marines now say the aircraft survived on its merits, not because they took on Capitol Hill. But their campaign was a near-legend in the industry — and could be invoked in the military budget battles to come.

Mr. Cheney eventually admitted defeat, and the Osprey endured even through its test crashes and groundings in the 1990s. By 2007 it finally went into service, in Iraq, where Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly, then the commander of the Marines in Anbar Province, oversaw the first two squadrons of Ospreys in combat. The speed of the aircraft “turned a province the size of Texas into Rhode Island,” he recalled.

 

 

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Windward Residents Sound Off Against Military Fleet

Source:  http://www.kitv.com/news/24780183/detail.html

Windward Residents Sound Off Against Military Fleet

Noise Increase Tops Concerns

POSTED: 9:52 pm HST August 26, 2010

HONOLULU — The military is proposing to move-in 24 Osprey aircrafts to the Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe, along with 18 Cobra attack choppers and nine Huey helicopters.

On Thursday night, windward residents spoke out against the plan at the King Intermediate School in Kaneohe

…

Residents said the community already bears the constant noise of aircrafts flying overhead throughout the day and night.

“I’m worried about quality of life,” said Kaneohe resident Guy Ballou. “These people have to live like this all day long its ridiculous.”

…

Along with the additional aircrafts, the military estimates a thousand uniformed personnel and 1100 family members will come too.

Residents fear the increase in population will add to the already competitive housing market.

“Our local people can’t afford to compete they can’t compete with the housing allowances that the military personnel get,” said Kaneohe resident Mahealani Cypher.

“I want the marines to have the best training in the world this isn’t the place for it they need to go some place else,” said Ballou.

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