C-141 actually :o , and yes sonn, those things can throw down ALOT of firepower :D

Agreed here!!!




Damn! I guess I weighed in a day late and a dollar short! LOL!



...and again...too late for clarification! I need to logon more!! LOL! But it's cool so many on this forum know so much about the Military!

Well, if it's any consulation, a Transport ship should be escorted by Gunships. It shouldn't NEED to use it's weapons! Like all good tactics, COMBINED ARMS is one of the most effective! ;)

And like all battle plans, tactics must be adaptable after the first contact with the enemy.

Mobius...
Thanks for the catch. I could have sworn that I said 141 but there it is 151. Oh well.

Bayer

Thanks for all the info. I guess I could've looked things up on wikipedia but I find I'd rather here YOUR opinions and thoughts, y'know? Ok, so the C5 is the Galaxy. I wonder why I thought it was the C130. In any case, I have new appreciation for the Blackhawk and those big cargo transports.

As I said earlier, the Blackhawk is "tried and true" airframe design. There is a lot less to go wrong (if that is possible with a helicopter) in the Blackhawk's design. It really is too early to tell what the Osprey's future and real capabilities are. For us military types...remember the York fighting vehicle and the M113 armored transport.

The M247 Sergeant York DIVAD (Division Air Defense) was a self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon intended to replace the M163 Vulcan Air Defense System and provide air defense capabilities on the field alongside the M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley fighting vehicles. While roughly patterned after an existing Soviet system, multiple system and design flaws and technology issues prevented the vehicle from ever being more than a prototype.

The M113, first introduced in 1960, fielded in 1962 in Vietnam. The vehicle named the Gavin Armored Personnel Carrier was originally developed and manufactured by FMC of San Jose, California to fulfill the requirement to be an "Airborne Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle Family" (AAM-PVF) of all-purpose, all-terrain armored fighting vehicles as outlined by General James M. Gavin who was the Army's Chief of Research & Development in the late '50s.

Yet it remains in front-line service and production in the 21st century, and the M113 was recently declared the best in a television comparison of "top 10" armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles. Approximately 80,000 units of all types have been produced worldwide making it the most widely used armored fighting vehicle of all time.

It is possible that the Osprey will shake loose of its early stigma of failures and weaknesses and become a well recognized part of the military hardware in the world.

Since we talked about helos we can forget to mention the Huey. It is a division: before and after the huey. The Huey started the concept of a troop transport helo.

And what about we talk about Hind-D and family?

I like the Hind and still wounder why no US aircraft companies have tried to do something similar. i mean its a transport and gunship giving it the ability to drop off its troops and then provide close air sport.

As to the C-130 with guns, thats an AC-130 and the simple mention of that plane sorta makes me drool with the amount of rounds it can put into something.

Anyone want to post a pic of the HIND and talk all about it?