The US Marine Corps took MV-22B Ospreys on the aircraft’s longest movement

Six Ospreys with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 266 returned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit after a trek from Camp Bastion, Afghanistan to Souda Bay, Greece, with the assistance of a pair of KC-130J Hercules from 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) providing transport and aerial refuelling support.

Captain Ben Grant, Executive Officer for the Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252 detachment currently deployed in support of operations in Afghanistan, said, “Never before has an MV-22 movement been conducted so far or on this scale. On this mission, the MV-22s travelled in excess of over 2,800 miles from Camp Bastion to Souda Bay, using aerial refuelling provided by KC-130Js. We transited three continents over land and water, three combatant commands’ areas of responsibility, and did it with no major issues.”

Grant further said that while the mission was the first of its kind on this scale, he believes more missions of this nature will occur in the future. He said that he sees movement like this becoming as routine for the Osprey as they are for other Marine Corps aircraft including F/A-18 Hornets, AV-8B Harriers and CH-53E Super Stallions.

“Since responding to a request to support Regional Command Southwest’s area of operations, the Fighting Griffins of VMM-266, based out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, have provided aviation and assault support for 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment and other coalition ground forces in Afghanistan,” explained Lt. Colonel Romin Dasmalchi, the VMM-266 commanding officer. Simultaneously, other elements of VMM-266, including reinforcements from an AV-8B Harrier detachment, participated in other activities, notably in recent operations in Libya.