SAN DIEGO– Amid the military’s grounding of V-22 Ospreys, the Navy Air Boss said they are able to still use the last C-2A Greyhounds for carrier operations, but impacts will increase if the problem is not solved soon.
“Lucky for the Navy that the C-2A Greyhound is still available, so limited operational impacts at this point, but there are operational impacts. And as you look into the future, significant operational impacts if we can’t get back and all that kind of stuff,” Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, commander of Naval Air Forces, known as the Air Boss, said here at a WEST 2024 conference panel on Feb. 13, hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and AFCEA.
He said while the Navy is in a position that can handle this problem for now the services and DoD need to make it a “safe and effective platform moving forward.”
Cheever said the Navy has not gotten to the point where it needs to retrieve Greyhounds retired for long-term storage to the Navy and Air Force boneyard in Arizona.
Previously retired C-2As are wrapped in plastic at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., with the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.
“We’ve sent some to the desert, you know, wrapped them up and that kind of stuff. I think we’re a long way from any of those decisions and that kind of stuff. So right now we’re in a good place where we’re at,” Cheever continued.
He underscored that his son is an officer in the Marine Corps, so he is devoted to the Ospreys being brought back with the right safety measures.
Fleet Logistics Support (VRC) Squadron 40 is the last Navy unit operating C-2As for carrier onboard delivery before they are set to be sundown in the coming years.
In September, VRC-30 flew the final C-2A Greyhound to VRC-40 in Norfolk, Va., “which will be used by VRC-40 for the next several years,” the Navy said at the time.
The Navy plans to keep these VRC-40 C-2As operating based on the East Coast for several years before they are ultimately replaced by MV-22 Ospreys as the sole COD aircraft.
COD aircraft transport equipment, gear, supplies and passengers to the aircraft carriers.
In contrast, the Marine Corps has had a significantly heavier impact to the Osprey groundings.
“For the Marine Corps, there’s a lot more operational impact, right. So whether it’s the MV-22s as forward deployed as the Crisis Response Force, not being able to fly to the 31st MEU, to the MEU deployed right now, to 26th MEU. All of these are dramatic, dramatic impacts,” Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, Commanding General of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration, said during the same panel.
The Marine Corps previously said the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) has been authorized to use Ospreys in limited operations for “emergent operational necessity” only when authorized by a three-star commanding officer.