If you go outside in Sydney today and look up into the sky, you might see four particularly weird aircraft. Kinda like planes, kinda like helicopters. Don’t be alarmed, we’re not being invaded. Here’s what they are.
The weird-ass aircraft in question are the Bell-Boeing MV-22 / CV-22 Osprey, four of which are in Australia at the moment from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268, part of the Marine Rotational Force Darwin 17.2 which landed in Darwin at the end of April for their international posting. This was the first time that an Osprey made a trans-Pacific flight.
Look cool, don’t they? The video above shows the Ospreys landing in Darwin as part of the Marine force rotation exercise; they’re presumably in Sydney just for a bit of sightseeing and showing off.
Former Giz editor Luke Hopewell, in the lofty heights of Twitter’s Sydney CBD building, snapped a good photo:
Four Ospreys flying across Sydney right now pic.twitter.com/0QY7EAujRH
— Luke Hopewell ⚡️ (@lukehopewell) June 29, 2017
They’re here for Exercise Talisman Sabre:
You might have seen some of these V-22 Osprey aircraft flying over #Sydney
part of #TalismanSaber Exercise
?Taryn Southcombe pic.twitter.com/lkB0eTq8hh— ABC Sydney (@abcsydney) June 29, 2017