That, in turn, is driving Corps concerns about the types and capabilities of armored vehicles it will have – not only in Afghanistan, but as part of Marine capability in the future.
“Army Strykers [Light Armored Vehicles used by the Army’s Interim Brigade Combat Teams] have been getting hit pretty hard in Kandahar with some just massive types of IEDs that you would probably be hard-pressed to survive, even in an MRAP [Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle],” Conway said.
“Our preferred vehicle is one that we have sort of created, if you will, which is the Cat 1 MRAP from Afghanistan, the Cougar, that we have put a 7-ton suspension on. A 7-ton was a very popular vehicle with our Marines, because it could get off road and go any place you wanted it to go. So we said, ‘Hey, instead of buying more MRAPs that one day we won’t need as a Marine Corps, let’s take a look at those we already have. Can we do something with this suspension system that comes off the MTVR [Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement] to make it able to go everywhere and do anything?’ And we have. It is a heavier vehicle than the M-ATV [MRAP all-terrain vehicle] and this terrain we’re operating in, for the most part, supports its use. … We are building to over a thousand of those in theater.”
Another new Marine platform that will be extensively used in Afghanistan is the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Conway dismisses criticism of the aircraft from Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as being “old news.”
“For whatever combination of reasons, both the GAO and the congressional inquiry that followed chose not to use information that we provided them about the fixes that were in place to the very issues they cited,” he said. “We thought that was a little bit one-sided and that intelligent people would make different determinations given the facts of the matter. So we continue to work it. We’re the last to paint something in rose colors if it’s not going to help accomplish the mission or be dangerous for employment with our Marines.”
While acknowledging the Osprey does not yet have the availability level the Corps wants – currently approaching 80 percent in Afghanistan rather than a 92 to 94 percent optimum – Conway believes the remaining problems are minor things that can be fixed in the field and the Osprey is “on trajectory” to the desired availability rate.
“There will be Ospreys in Afghanistan for as long as there are Marines in Afghanistan, because the aircraft just has an incredible capability,” he said. “We now have guns on our Ospreys in theater. That’s something that took a little while, but they now have a self-escort, immediate suppression kind of capability.
“This is not just a replacement to the CH-46 [Sea Knight medium-lift transport helicopter]. This aircraft is so much more capable than that, that we actually had to adjust our aviation techniques, tactics, and procedures to match the capability of the airplane. Used to be that two CH-46s would take off and stay mated for the entire day; today, two Ospreys take off and go different directions doing different things around the battlefield because they can join very quickly on each other if there is an issue.”
Ospreys are being used to land troops deep into enemy territory to quickly build up the Marine force faster than possible with other means of transport.
“So if I sound excited about the airplane, I am. It is really showing its capacity here in an area that really lends itself to it. When I first went there [Afghanistan] and flew around in a CH-53 or drove the roads, I came to realize just how expansive this area is. It’s the size of Texas. And getting around in something that large requires a fast-moving airplane that is very non-susceptible to enemy fire,” Conway said.