One of the cases being made for the HV-22 is that it can directly fly payloads directly to other ships in the CSG, rather than do the hub/spoke thing by taking them to the carrier then using a helo to move them to the final destination.
This doesn’t make a lot of sense given that the only other ships in the CSG that can actually land a HV-22 are going to be the logistics support ships. The helo deck on a Burke and Tico isn’t going to be able to handle a V-22 in COD-mode since even if the HV-22 can physically land (I’ve never seen evidence of it having been attempted) it’ll have to land backwards so that cargo can be transferred off the aircraft’s ramp.
That means the direct-delivery to the escorts can only happen using underslung loads that are dropped off while the HV-22 is hovering. Underslung loads are ok for inter-strikegroup transfers, and for the Marines hauling equipment ashore and back during amphib ops, but I don’t see how anyone would want to do underslung from the kinds of distance involved in shore-to-ship transfers.
Now I understand that the V-22 can fill something of a gap between C-2 and helo. It might, therefore, make sense to do a mixed buy of upgraded C-2s AND HV-22s, with the latter operating from the logistics support ships and replacing the Eurocopter Cougars currently being used. BUT that would probably require using Navy and not civilian crews (as is currently done) for flying and maintaining the birds.
The location: USS Nimitz, anchored in the Bay of Naples, Italy. A Navy CH-46 was bringing two hydraulic motors for the catapult's retraction engine slug underneath on some sort of pallet. Just why they were slung underneath, I don't know. Poor choice. About half way between land and the ship, you saw the pallet tilt awkwardly and then one of the motors went kerplunk. I thought our Maintenance Officer was going to have a stroke.