The MV-22 Osprey is a versatile helicopter-airplane hybrid that provides critical transport using its unique ability to combine vertical take-off and landing with long-range transport and high-speed maneuvers.

With such versatility, the Osprey offers key military mobility for amphibious operations.

The Osprey was developed more than 30 years ago as the answer for how to transport troops and gear at higher speeds and with greater range, when they also need to take off and land vertically.

It is the world's first successful military tiltrotor to take to the air.

The MV-22 took its first flight in 1989 in Arlington, Texas, and has been in service with the Marine Corps since 2007. It replaced the Corps' aged fleet of CH-46E and CH-53D medium lift helicopters.

The Osprey's unique design has a distinctive appearance, with two engines on fixed wing tips housed within streamlined casings. They rotate to allow the Osprey to land and take off vertically, like a helicopter. But it can go much faster than a regular helicopter during flight by tilting the casing forward, more like a fixed wing aircraft.

Faster, higher, stronger

The MV-22 Osprey can carry 24 Marines -- twice as many as previous transport aircraft could hold. It can lift 20,000 pounds (9071.8kg) and go at a speed of 280 knots (518.6km/hour). The speed makes it twice as fast as traditional helicopters, according to its manufacturer, Boeing.

It can also swiftly transition from hover mode to forward flight, to support speedy maneuvers.

The MV-22 Osprey can travel significantly farther than some of the helicopters it supplanted -- in some cases five times as far as traditional helicopters.

It has a range of 325 nautical miles (601.9km) in combat radius and can go farther when refueled in the air.

The extended reach allows the Marines to conduct rapid deployments or carry out missions across far distances, whether for combat operations, disaster response or humanitarian relief efforts.

The Osprey can be transported for missions around the world. Its rotating wing and rotors can fold horizontally, so it can be stored on an aircraft carrier or assault ship.

Versatile use for multiple branches of the military

In its three decades of service, the US military has received more than 475 V-22 Ospreys for combat and humanitarian missions worldwide, according to Boeing.

The US Marines, US Air Force, US Navy and Japan Ground Self Defense Force currently operate their own variants of the V-22 model -- MV, CV, CMV and Japan MV, respectively.

In June 2013, the Navy signed a new multi-year contract to order 100 V-22s. Most of those -- 93 MV-22s -- went to the Marine Corps and seven CV-22s went to the Air Force.

The US Marine Corps describes itself as an "expeditionary force-in-readiness" that is manned, trained and equipped specifically to respond quickly to a broad variety of crises and conflicts and "assure littoral access."

The MV-22 Osprey is key in the Marine Corps' aviation arsenal for its medium-lift capabilities. The Corps relies on the CH-53E Super Stallion and the newer CH-53K King Stallion for heavy-lift capabilities.