USAF’s CV-22 Osprey is still in development testing at Edwards AFB, Calif., but officials say they have already begun training with Air Force Special Operations Command personnel. “We’re taking the airplanes, learning how to fly them, and learning how we are going to employ the aircraft … in future conflicts,” said Maj. Steven Breeze, director of operations for Det. 1, 18th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards. The special ops crews already have found that the Osprey takes less than half the preparation and preflight times of other airframes.
The Air Force wants more companies able to produce its new, multi-use, anti-radar missile that one expert says will prove vital in any future peer conflict and would be in high demand for the war in Iran if stocks were available now.