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Evidence suggests the helicopters used in the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden on Monday were previously unknown stealth variants of the Navy SEALs’ MH-60 Black Hawks. One of the helicopters had to be abandoned at the site. Although much of it was destroyed, parts of the unusual tail section survived intact.
The US military said two ‘Black Hawk’ helicopters were used on the raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2. However, an unnamed retired special operations aviator told the Army Times that the helicopters that flew in the Navy SEALs were in fact stealth variants of the special operations MH-60.
“It really didn’t look like a traditional Black Hawk,” the aviator said. It had “hard edges, sort of like an … F-117, you know how they have those distinctive edges and angles - that’s what they had on this one.”
One of the helicopters reportedly clipped a wall as it landed in the compound and was so badly damaged it was unable to take off again. As a result, the SEALs destroyed it to stop their technology falling into the wrong hands - something that is common practice on such high risk missions, especially those in foreign countries. However, the tail section of the helicopter, including its tail rotor, landed on the other side of the compound wall and survived generally intact.
When photographs of the wreckage were distributed on the Internet, experts were baffled as they tried to identify the helicopter. The tail rotor does not resemble any official US military aircraft. It is clearly part of a stealth helicopter, the Shephard Group reports. A ‘hubcap’ on the tail rotor shields the rotor assembly from radar; multiple tail rotor blades provide for a smoother and quieter ride; the silver/white paint deflects heat, and the faceted and smoothed parts of the tail reflect radar signals away from the source antenna. The slightly forward-swept horizontal tailplanes also help to deflect radar returns. According to the Guardian, some of the witnesses living near bin Laden’s compound said they did not hear helicopters until they were almost directly overhead, meaning the helicopters may have had other acoustic dampening features.
The retired special forces aviator who spoke to the Army Times said it made sense that the helicopter did indeed have stealth characteristics as Pakistani authorities had no advanced warning of the mission.
The aviator said the helicopter stealth programme that led to the helicopters used in the bin Laden raid began with the modification of AH-6 Little Bird special operations attack helicopters in the 1980s. At the same time the US Army was developing the Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche stealth helicopter, but this was cancelled in 2004 in order to focus funds on upgrading the existing helicopter fleet and developing unmanned helicopters.
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The US military said two ‘Black Hawk’ helicopters were used on the raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2. However, an unnamed retired special operations aviator told the Army Times that the helicopters that flew in the Navy SEALs were in fact stealth variants of the special operations MH-60.
“It really didn’t look like a traditional Black Hawk,” the aviator said. It had “hard edges, sort of like an … F-117, you know how they have those distinctive edges and angles - that’s what they had on this one.”
One of the helicopters reportedly clipped a wall as it landed in the compound and was so badly damaged it was unable to take off again. As a result, the SEALs destroyed it to stop their technology falling into the wrong hands - something that is common practice on such high risk missions, especially those in foreign countries. However, the tail section of the helicopter, including its tail rotor, landed on the other side of the compound wall and survived generally intact.
When photographs of the wreckage were distributed on the Internet, experts were baffled as they tried to identify the helicopter. The tail rotor does not resemble any official US military aircraft. It is clearly part of a stealth helicopter, the Shephard Group reports. A ‘hubcap’ on the tail rotor shields the rotor assembly from radar; multiple tail rotor blades provide for a smoother and quieter ride; the silver/white paint deflects heat, and the faceted and smoothed parts of the tail reflect radar signals away from the source antenna. The slightly forward-swept horizontal tailplanes also help to deflect radar returns. According to the Guardian, some of the witnesses living near bin Laden’s compound said they did not hear helicopters until they were almost directly overhead, meaning the helicopters may have had other acoustic dampening features.
The retired special forces aviator who spoke to the Army Times said it made sense that the helicopter did indeed have stealth characteristics as Pakistani authorities had no advanced warning of the mission.
The aviator said the helicopter stealth programme that led to the helicopters used in the bin Laden raid began with the modification of AH-6 Little Bird special operations attack helicopters in the 1980s. At the same time the US Army was developing the Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche stealth helicopter, but this was cancelled in 2004 in order to focus funds on upgrading the existing helicopter fleet and developing unmanned helicopters.
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