THE FRIDAY FOTO (January 27, 2023)

THE COLOR OF THE WIND.

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sergeant Jesus Sepulveda Torres) Click  on the photo to enlarge the image.

MV-22 Osprey aircraft assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162  prepare to take-off for a simulated raid during Marine Expeditionary Unit Exercise I at Auxiliary Landing Field Bogue, North Carolina on December 20, 2022. The raid was the culminating Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) mission for the exercise.

The colorful circles are made by two LED tip lights on the end of each rotor blade as they rotate. The colorful display has a practical safety purpose, it makes the Osprey more visible to other squadron aircraft in night flight formations (in a non-combat situation). On the ground, in the dark, the lights also alert other aircraft well as ground personnel nearby where the spinning blades are.

The Osprey can take off and land vertically like a helicopter but also fly horizontally (and faster) like and airplane when the rotors are tilted forward. These Ospreys are with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26 MEU). An MEU, with about 2,000 Marines, a composite helicopter/tiltrotor squadron and a combat logistics battalion, is the smallest type of MAGTAF (pronounced MAG-TAFF) unit.

FRIDAY FOTO (May 29, 2020)

Seaborne Drone Launch.

(Marine Corps photo by Corporal Gary Jayne III)

U.S. Marines with the Maritime Raid Force, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) launch an RQ-20 Puma unmanned aircraft system (UAS) from a combat rubber raiding craft during training in the Persian Gulf with on May 24, 2020.

The Aerovironment Puma provides land-based/maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. It also allows small units the ability to detect improvised explosive devices. The Marine Corps introduced the Puma to its operating units in 2012.

We didn’t think you could hand launch a drone as large as the Puma from a small boat like this one, while it was moving. But apparently you can.

(Defense Department photo by U.S. Army Sergeant Hillary Rustine)

This 2012 photo of an Army sergeant launching a Puma during training at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, shows the body English usually needed to get the small UAS airborne. Must take some acute balance to do that in a fast moving rubber boat.