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In 2011, the US Navy SEALs conducted one
of the most critical High-value target missions of recent memory.
The objective was none other than Osama Bin Laden, leader of Al-Qaeda.
A raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was launched from Afghanistan.
The mission was a success, but it was not without its faults. One of the two never-before-seen
stealth Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks used for the operation was shot down during the raid.
The helicopter made a hard landing. The pilots wanted to attempt to fly it out,
but it was decided that the Black Hawk should be destroyed. The Army tried to keep it secret.
The blast blew-apart almost all of the helicopter, but its tail rotor remained…
This secret stealth helicopter, heavily modified for quieter operations
and employing stealth technology to be less visible to radars, became a now open-secret.
Aviation enthusiasts worldwide speculated about this vehicle's nature
and the technology it used to pass undetected through Pakistan's defenses.
But there was no official record or history of the helicopters used for the op.
No one knew anything about the Stealthy Black Hawks. A decade later, in August 2020, a picture
of a prototype was leaked on the internet for the first time. The reaction was amazement.
A Stealth Blackhawk is one way to deliver special forces commandos, but in 1979 the Israeli
Defense Forces had to get even more creative to infiltrate a dire hostage situation in Africa.
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Stealthy Black Hawk Helicopter
According to an anonymous user, whom many think was a first-hand witness to the events of Bin
Laden's capture, the aircraft pictured is a YEH-60A at Edwards Air Force Base in either
1989 or 1990. Other sources indicate it may be in Area 51 or the Tonopah Test Range Airport.
The EH-60 is a modified version of the UH-60 Black Hawk designed to locate,
classify and disrupt enemy signals traffic. The helicopter shown in the leaked picture is sporting
a [QUOTE] "Direction Finding Enhancement Kit," which included several physical modifications
such as the tail rotor that initially belonged to the canceled RAH-66 Comanche stealth helicopter.
The anonymous source says that the prototype was nicknamed "Black Blackhawk."
Users have tried to dissect the helo shown in the picture, specifying that it is a heavily
modified Sikorsky EH-60 with a particular version of the AN/ALQ-151 Quick Fix system.
This system was supposedly capable of intercepting hostile electronic emissions
and providing direction-finding information to locate the source. It also possessed electronic
warfare jamming technology, making it invisible to any tracking device.
The Stealth Blackhawk also has two large missile approach warning sensors,
one on each side of the nose under the main cockpit doors.
These upgrades are part of the Missile Approach Warning Systems of the EH-60As variants.
Other additions are the stub wings associated with the MH-60S Seahawks
of the US Navy that adopted the External Stores Support System.
The most peculiar features of the Stealth Helo are the duckbill-like nose, where the engines
and main gearbox are located, the rotor hub, and the engine intakes and exhausts. Experts have
suggested that these changes were made to reduce the radar signatures and the vehicle's noise.
Nonetheless, these are all speculations based on prototypes and other aircraft from the 1980s.
The best official description of the aircraft from someone who actually took part in Operation
Neptune Spear comes from Robert O'Neil, the man who supposedly killed Osama Bin Laden.
He recounted that weeks before the operation, training in a Nevada facility, he saw a glimpse
of the stealth helicopters they were going to use for the mission. He says, (QUOTE):
"We turned the corner, saw the helos we'd actually use, and I started laughing. I told the guys,
'The odds just changed. There's a 90 percent chance we'll survive.' They asked why.
I said, 'I didn't know they were sending us to war on an f-ing Decepticon.'"
The American journalist, Sean Naylor, in his book, Relentless Strike:
The Secret History Of Joint Special Operations Command, provides other unknown details about
the stealth Black Hawk helicopters that were used on the Bin Laden raid in 2011.
He explains that the exotic helicopters were test articles from a defunct program that has
now been reborn in improved fashion following their use during Operation Neptune Spear.
He claims that the classified project resulted in only two examples of Black Hawks being built.
They had two aims. The first was to reshape the aircraft and cover it with radar-absorbent
material to lower its radar signature. The second was to make the aircraft significantly quieter.
Naylor explains that the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment
wanted to reduce the time between an enemy hearing the helicopter approaching
and it arriving overhead by as much as possible.
He recalls a veteran telling him that, (QUOTE): "Thirty seconds is
amazing because then you can be on top of the target and fast-roping people down."
Although the prototypes seemed effective, The SEALs wanted to use the heavily modified and
well-armed MH-47 Chinooks that the 160th SOAR used for their ops. Still, their request was
denied by the CIA and Admiral William McRaven, the commander of Joint Special Operations Command.
The White House preferred to use the stealth Black Hawks for the mission in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
The fact that they were totally unproven in combat and nearly experimental nature
was just a factored risk...