U.S. Marines with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, stow an MV-22B Osprey aboard the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, in the Mediterranean Sea, July 6, 2016.

This training exercise was the first time a U.S. MV-22B Osprey has landed on the French ship Charles de Gaulle, testing the aircraft carrier’s ability to receive and transport the unique aircraft.

The MV-22 Osprey is the primary assault support aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps. It was fielded to replace the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter and has been deployed to support troops in combat since 2007.

The Osprey is unique in that it uses two engines positioned on fixed wing tips housed in nacelles that rotate to allow the MV-22 to land and take off vertically, but achieve much faster flight than a helicopter by tilting the nacelles forward while in flight in a configuration similar to a fixed-wing aircraft.