CMV-22B Osprey Carrier Onboard Delivery wing set up in San Diego

The US Navy established Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Wing (COMVRMWING) 1 in a ceremony aboard Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, on October 10.

Capt. Dewon Chaney assumed command of the new wing and will be the first commodore to take on the integration and implementation of the CMV-22B Osprey into fleet operations.

The mission for the wing will be to conduct high priority cargo and passenger transport services in support of aircraft carrier strike groups and task forces.

“Sailors and Marines have worked hard to ensure the mission capability of these aircraft, and the opportunity to lead this group is a privilege,” said Chaney, a career helicopter pilot with extensive experience piloting four different Navy aircraft. “This community’s stand up is a joint endeavor, and will bring unmatched capability to a carrier strike group near you.”

The CMV-22B Osprey is a variant of the MV-22B and is the replacement for the C-2A Greyhound for the Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) mission. The Osprey is a tiltrotor aircraft that can take off and land as a helicopter but transit as a turboprop aircraft, and the airframe recently surpassed the threshold of 500,000 flight hours.

Osprey, with its increased range, speed and payload capabilities will provide the Navy with significant increases in capability and operational flexibility over the C-2A, which has served the fleet since 1965. CMV-22B operations can be either shore-based, expeditionary or sea-based.

Vice Adm. DeWolfe Miller, commander, Naval Air Forces, was the principal speaker at the event and said Naval Aviation is peaking, and the carrier air wing of the future is coming soon.

“The aircraft carrier remains the centerpiece of naval power, and carrier strike groups bring unparalleled power to the fight” said Miller, the Navy’s ‘Air Boss’. “No other weapons system has the responsiveness, endurance, battlespace awareness, and command and control capabilities of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, its embarked air wing and accompanying ships.”

Miller continued to say that as our adversaries evolve, so must our ships, aircraft training and tactics; the COD mission has played a pivotal role for carriers since the first TBM Avenger in World War II, and the C-2 Greyhound has filled that role admirably since 1965.

“The CMV-22 Osprey is not only part of our future,” emphasized Miller. “It’s part of our ‘now’ that’s going to be provided in every subsequent squadron that transitions.”

A year ago, the Navy established the first CMV-22 squadron (VRM-30) and plans are in the works to establish a sister squadron on the east coast.

The first deployment for VRM-30 is currently planned for 2021 aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), and officials say the complete transition from the venerable Greyhound to the newer and more modern CMV-22B Osprey is expected by 2028.