People who love planes and flying cannot but be enamored of the latest plane in the US inventory. It is called the Osprey and is both a conventional plane as well as a helicopter. In other words, it can take off and land like any normal plane but if required when operating in mountains and jungles it can rise up and land vertically like a helicopter. The Osprey can carry out this feat because of two rotors like a helicopter which are fixed on its wings. These rotors which generate tremendous lift can help the plane rise up vertically like
a helicopter. In addition, the plane also can carry 24 troops or other passangers. Coming to the cost, which is an important ingradient of any weapon system, one can say it is costly at $ 2 million a piece but the USAF feels it is a cost effective weappon.Till
date two Osprey's have been lost. One in actual combat in Yemen when it made a hard landing and had to be destroyed by the US soldiers themselves and second was lost today when an Osprey failed to land on the deck of the USS Reagan, a 100,000-ton aircraft carrier of the Nimitz class. Three US service men were killed today as the plane ditched into the sea off the coast of Queensland in Australia in a joint exercise between the US and Australian Navy.All said and done the Osprey is a mighty weapon system and a force multiplier.It is unfortunate that Indian technology is decades away from making anything similar. For those who may not be familiar, an Osprey is another name for an eagle
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