First landing of an MV-22 ‘Osprey’ on the LHD ‘Juan Carlos I’

On June 18th a milestone for the LHD ‘Juan Carlos I’ took place off the coast of Cádiz; namely the landing, for the first time, of a US Marine Corps MV-22 ‘Osprey’ coming from Morón Air Base.

A series of scheduled operations were conducted on board the LHD to test the interoperability of the aircraft with the ship: landing, mooring, tie-down, folding and towing to the elevator.

Gifts were exchanged at the ship’s hangar between the commanding officer of the ‘Juan Carlos I’, Captain Antonio Piñeiro and the ‘Osprey’ pilot R. J. Scott. After the trials on board and a hot refueling operation, the ‘Osprey’ took off and completed a series of a further three landings and takeoffs.

The interoperability trials of the aircraft with the Spanish Navy LHD were a complete success.