Two tiltrotor MV-22 Ospreys will arrive at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay Thursday for training and demonstrations, officials said.

The Ospreys, part of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161, are aboard the USS Anchorage, a San Antonio-class Landing Platform Dock ship stationed in San Diego.

The squadron is participating in joint Navy and Marine Corps training with units stationed in Hawaii and will fly throughout the state to familiarize pilots with training areas, the Marine Corps said.

The aircraft, which can take off and land like a helicopter and rotate rotors forward to attain speeds of a traditional propeller airplane, are expected to depart Hawaii April 7, officials said.

The Anchorage, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship commissioned May 4, will pull into Pearl Harbor.

San Antonio class amphibious transport docks provide the Navy and Marine Corps with a modern amphibious platform that has the ability to embark, transport and land Marines.

The Navy said ships of the San Antonio class are a key element of its "seabase" philosophy of projecting command and control as well as forces from the sea.

Anchorage is the seventh San Antonio-class ship. 

Each of the ships encompass more than 23,000 square feet of storage space for hovercraft and other landing craft, more than double that of the older ships it replaces, the Navy said.

The LPD 17 class ships are engineered with a streamlined topside design that reduces the ship’s appearance on radars, adding to 21st century survivability features, the Navy said.

The ship is operated by a crew of 381 with a capability to transport a landing force of up to 800 Marines.