The A-29 drops a 500lb (227kg) laser
guided bomb during a demonstration
fl ight over the White Sands Missile
Range while participating in the initial
Light Attack Experiment on August 1,- USAF/Ethan D. Wagner
OSPREY TESTS COD CAPABILITIES
IN AUGUST 2018, pilots from air
test and evaluation squadron
HX-21 successfully tested
shipboard rolling landing and take-
o s with the MV-22B. The tests
were conducted with an Osprey
weighing more than 57,000lb
(25,855kg) and demonstrated
a key carrier on-board delivery
(COD) capability. The capability
allows the Osprey to carry more
weight than the C-2A, which it
will replace. The Greyhound is
limited to a maximum landing
weight of 49,000lb (22,226kg). The
evaluations were conducted on
the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77).
In related news, an all-navy
crew comprising two naval
aviators and two airmen ewan MV-22B from Naval Station
Norfolk to MCAS New River in
Jacksonville, North Carolina,
on July 12. The ight marked
the rst time that an all-navy
crew has own an Osprey. The
commander, Naval Air Force
Atlantic was aboard the aircraft
during the milestone mission.
The Osprey crew is currently
assigned to the navy’s Airborne
Command and Control and
Logistics Wing’s Medium Tilt-
Rotor Squadron Detachment- The navy will activate the
rst COD Osprey squadron when
eet logistics multi-mission
squadron VRM-30 is established
at NAS North Island, California,
on October 1.
MV-22B BuNo 166494 of HX-21 lands aboard the aircraft
carrier USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) on August 1.
US Navy/MC2 Jose ph E. Montemarano
USAF SEEKS GULFSTREAMS
THE US AIR Force Life-Cycle
Management Center (AFLCMC)’s
Commercial Derivative
Aircraft Division at Tinker AFB,
Oklahoma, has issued a request
for information regarding the
potential purchase of Gulfstream
business jets to serve in a variety
of roles. It refers to the acquisitionof between two and 40 Gulfstream
jets that could include G550s
that are modi ed to the service’s
current C-37B con guration,
G550s equipped with intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance
capabilities and G280s and
G650s with command and
control (C2) capabilities.VX-30 GULFSTREAM NOW FLYING
A GULFSTREAM G550 destined to
serve with air test and evaluation
squadron VX-30 at NBVC Point
Mugu, California, visited Lambert
St Louis International Airport,
Missouri, on August 13. The heavily
modi ed Gulfstream (c/n 5544),
which wore the test registration
N544GD, will be equipped with
an advanced airborne telemetry
instrumentation system that is
being developed by the Raytheon
Company’s missile systems
segment (formerly Ktech) inAlbuquerque, New Mexico, under
a $79.7-million contract. Systems
include a commercial-aircraft
based instrumentation telemetry
system (CBITS) and an airborne
command transmitter system
(ACTS). Assigned the designation
NC-37B, the new telemetry
range support aircraft (TRSA) will
replace the NP-3D that is currently
operated in this role by VX-30. It
was ordered as a ‘green’ airframe
from Gulfstream in 2016 at a cost
of $91.9 million.The VX-30 NC-37B (serial N544GD) seen for the fi rst time in its
new confi guration in August. Mark Nankivil[NEWS] UNITED STATES
10 October 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net