October 9, 2007 9:35 AM PDT
During a flight in August 2006, a crew chief tries out an M-240 machine gun in the rear hatch of the Osprey. This is the only weapon mounted in the aircraft, a fact that the Time article and others have singled out for criticism, arguing that the aircraft is ill-equipped to defend itself in a hot combat zone. Proponents counter that the V-22 is well-equipped with "survivability equipment," such as missile warning systems, and gains much in the way of self-protection through its ability to fly above threats and to speed away from them.
Photo by Lance Cpl. Samuel D. White
Caption by Jonathan Skillings
