Officials are examining where to deploy the V-22, Lt. Gen. John Castellaw told reporters at a breakfast in Arlington, VA.

“You know, somebody was talking to me the other day and asked me . . . ‘Where is the best place to deploy this airplane?’” Castellaw said.

“And I said, ‘Dang, the best place to deploy this airplane is the Horn of Africa because of the range and speed. You know, you can cover all that area down there. And its aero-refuelable. It carries 24 people,’” he recounted.

An amphibious ship is another option for the deployment, he added.

“And I said, ‘Damn, the best place to deploy that thing is aboard an amphib,’” Castellaw recounted, clapping his hands once for emphasis. He touted the ship’s mobility and the V-22’s capabilities to carry 24 people long distances and penetrate areas at night.

Iraq is also an option, he said. “We always provide our people in Iraq the best armor, the best vehicles, the best airplanes,” he said.

“Right now the issue is . . . we’ve got so many places where this airplane’s capabilities would be utilized is that, you know, we’re being a little careful about where we’re going to put it,” he said.

Asked about his personal preference for the V-22’s first mission, Castellaw said, “I like to go to the sound of the guns, you know? So we’ll see.”

A service official said the details of the V-22’s first deployment are not up to Castellaw, but rather to other defense officials, so he is not in a position to say definitively where it will go.

Earlier this year, however, The Dallas Morning News reported that then-Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee and Castellaw predicted the V-22 would deploy to Iraq in 2007.

In an interview with the Marine Corps Association’s Leatherneck magazine, conducted in July and published in September, Hagee said the V-22 would be used in Iraq.

“Yes, we’ll use it,” Hagee said. “The Osprey’s speed and range may allow us to do the same things with fewer assets. By putting the Osprey in Al Asad, our primary airfield, it can reach all the countries surrounding Iraq without refueling. The Osprey flies around 240 knots, more than twice the speed of the CH-46 helicopter. If we were reinforcing an area near the Jordanian border, we could build combat power over 60 percent faster using the Osprey than with our helicopters.”

Last week, Castellaw also described a hypothetical mission for the V-22 in Iraq. If U.S. forces wanted to reinforce units near the Syrian border with 180 troops from Al Asad air base, 70 miles away, the mission could be done in 17 minutes with eight V-22s, he said. It would take 3.5 hours to do the same mission using 12 CH-46 helicopters, which fly closer to harm’s way at lower altitudes, he said.

The V-22 is scheduled to reach initial operational capability in June 2007, V-22 program manager Marine Corps Col. Bill Taylor told Inside the Navy in an interview.

Castellaw declined to say when in 2007 the V-22 will deploy, but noted it might be before next fall.

He said officials are considering self-deploying the V-22 for its first mission, meaning it would fly directly from the United States to wherever it would be based.