Modified Stealth Helicopter in OBL raid

[Manticore]

Eurocopter unveiled its most recent effort to reduce helicopter noise with the radical-looking Blue Edge rotor blade

Sikorsy S-70i

 

[krash]

Tango1: "Tango1 to charlie...Tango1 to charlie. Over"

Charlie: "Go ahead tango1 this is charlie. Over"

Tango1:"Sitrep.........We have successfully "avoided" every form of detection by the Pakistanis. Radar, visual and auditory detection all successfully avoided. No one has a clue that we are here. Over."

Charlie: "Roger that Tango1. Good job!"

Tango1: "Bringin the bird down. READY TO UNLEASH HELL!!!!!!!!!!"

Charlie: "HOOOAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

Tango1: *BAAAAANNNGGG*.......*Crackle........crackle.......crackle.......*

Charlie: "Tango1 come in...Tango1 come in!"

Tango1: "This is Tango1. Over."

Charlie: "What happened Tango1?"

Tango1: "errrrr............nothing.........."

Charlie: "Tango1 we heard a loud explosion.....wtf happened???"

Tango1: "I kinda........crashed into a wall..............."

Charlie: *Facepalm*

 

[MZUBAIR]

 

[MZUBAIR]

Lets see, If Pakistan, China do some thing.

 

[Obambam]

It is always nice to see one side shower someone with free gifts and to the benefits of many.

 

[Silk]

The way he female journalist speaks. It is almost she is excited. Patriotism? Indoctrinated? I rather listen to the person she interviews. It is known technology for a decade.

 

[ANG]

Hi, and the plot thickens....

Osama Bin Laden Raid: Pakistan Hints China Wants a Peek at Secret Helicopter - ABC News

Osama Bin Laden Raid: Pakistan Hints China Wants a Peek at Secret Helicopter
SEALs Used Secret Stealth Helicopter
By MATTHEW COLE, JIM SCIUTTO (@jimsciuttoABC) , LEE FERRAN and BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) May 10, 2011

Pakistani officials said today they're interested in studying the remains of the U.S.'s secret stealth-modified helicopter abandoned during the Navy SEAL raid of Osama bin Laden's compound, and suggested the Chinese are as well.

The U.S. has already asked the Pakistanis for the helicopter wreckage back, but one Pakistani official told ABC News the Chinese were also "very interested" in seeing the remains. Another official said, "We might let them [the Chinese] take a look."

A U.S. official said he did not know if the Pakistanis had offered a peek to the Chinese, but said he would be "shocked" if the Chinese hadn't already been given access to the damaged aircraft.

The chopper, which aviation experts believe to be a highly classified modified version of a Blackhawk helicopter, clipped a wall during the operation that took down the al Qaeda leader, the White House said. The U.S. Navy SEALs that rode in on the bird attempted to destroy it after abandoning it on the ground, but a significant portion of the tail section survived the explosion. In the days after the raid, the tail section and other pieces of debris -- including a mysterious cloth-like covering that the local children found entertaining to play with -- were photographed being hauled away from the crash site by tractor.

Aviation experts said the unusual configuration of the rear rotor, the curious hub-cap like housing around it and the general shape of the bird are all clues the helicopter was highly modified to not only be quiet, but to have as small a radar signature as possible.

The helicopter's remains have apparently become another chip in a tense, high-stakes game of diplomacy between the U.S. and Pakistan following the U.S.'s unilateral military raid of bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, more than a week ago. The potential technological advancements gleaned from the bird could be a "much appreciated gift" to the Chinese, according to former White House counterterrorism advisor and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke.

"Because Pakistan gets access to Chinese missile technology and other advanced systems, Islamabad is always looking for ways to give China something in return," Clarke said.

The Chinese and Pakistani governments are known to have a close relationship. Last month Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif concluded a trip to Beijing, afterwards telling Pakistan's local press that China was Pakistan's "best friend."

Dan Goure, a former Department of Defense official and vice president of the Lexington Institute, said last week the stealth chopper likely provided the SEALs an invaluable advantage in the moments before the shooting started.

"This is a first," he said. "You wouldn't know that it was coming right at you. And that's what's important, because these are coming in fast and low, and if they aren't sounding like they're coming right at you, you might not even react until it's too late... That was clearly part of the success."

Neighbors of bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, told ABC News they didn't hear the helicopters the night of the raid until they were overhead.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Defense declined to comment for this report, and a senior Pentagon official told ABC News last week the Department would "absolutely not" discuss anything relating to the downed chopper. Several Chinese government officials in the U.S. and in China were not available for comment.

U.S. officials have not officially disclosed any details on the helicopter, but President Obama said it was a "$60 million helicopter," in a report by The Washington Post. While the price tag on normal Blackhawks varies depending the type, none cost more than $20 million according to the latest Department of Defense procurement report.

China's Murky History With U.S. Stealth Technology
If the Chinese are allowed to see the wreckage, it may not be the first time the Chinese military was given an opportunity to benefit technologically from America's misfortune. In 1999 an American stealth F-117 Nighthawk bomber was shot down in Serbia, the wreckage of which was reportedly passed along to the Chinese.

More than a decade later, in January of this year, China's first stealth fighter, the J-20, took a test flight that caught international attention and sparked a debate over whether China had developed the stealth-capabilities based on what they learned from the downed Nighthawk. Balkan military officials told The Associated Press the Chinese likely based their designs on the American plane, but Chinese officials denied the allegation in their state-run newspaper, The Global Times.

Regardless of its origins, the J-20 could serve as the first major challenge to American air superiority in decades. In an analysis published last week, the conservative think tank The Jamestown Foundation concluded the J-20 was capable of rivaling America's best air-to-air fighter, the F-22, in everything from speed to stealth and lethality.

ABC News' Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

 

[fatman17]

DATE:06/05/11

SOURCE:Flight International

GRAPHIC: Pakistan raid reveals US Army’s helicopter secret

By Stephen Trimble

The operation that killed Osama bin Laden on 2 May inadvertently revealed a modification kit that reduces the radar profile of a small number of Sikorsky MH-60Ks operated by US special operations forces, according to sources familiar with the equipment.

A reduced-signature tail rotor shroud, low-observable treatments and faceted stabilators are visible in news photos of the helicopter that was destroyed at the scene.

The images led to speculation about the possible existence of an all-new stealth helicopter. But in reality, they reveal one of several mission-specific kits developed internally by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, sources said.

The regiment is renowned for the flying skills of its helicopter pilots, but has also developed advanced engineering capabilities.

Set apart from the army's conventional acquisition and science and technology communities, the 160th has the ability to develop and certificate its own aircraft modifications and projects.

A standard MH-60K represents the most advanced configuration of the Black Hawk family within the regiment's fleet, with special survivability, navigation and radar systems allowing it to operate in "all environments and under the harshest conditions", the army said.

According to one source, the tail rotor is the most visible part of the MH-60K to radar and the sharply edged shroud revealed in the news photos helps to reduce the signature, especially from the frontal aspect. The kit also includes the installation of a stealthy windscreen and requires the removal of the MH-60K's refuelling probe, according to sources.

The bolt-on kits are not classified, but they have been kept secret within the special operations community for as long as two decades. Starting in the mid-1980s, the army began experimenting with stealth treatments for helicopters.

In 1987, Bell OH-58s involved in Operation Prime Chance, which provided armed escorts for oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, received a kit with stealth treatments, which included a main rotor shroud.

The Sikorsky/Boeing RAH-66 Comanche, which was cancelled in 2004, was designed with stealth treatments from the beginning.

It is not clear how the special kit impacted the MH-60K's performance during the bin Laden raid. One of the two aircraft involved in the operation had to be destroyed on the ground. The helicopter's engine had reportedly lost thrust due to power settling as it hovered within the high walls of bin Laden's compound.

One source said the tail rotor shroud of the radar-evading kit improves the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft slightly, but another said the stealth features add weight and drag to the aircraft, perhaps making it more susceptible to power settling.

 

[Manticore]

Ravi Rikhye in Orbat.com

--------------

The Pakistan Air Force and Operation Geronimo

Forwarded by Major A.H. Amin (Pakistan Army, Retired). He received it from a former PAF officer he trusts.

With the latest PAF press briefing whose distorted version appeared today on TV channels and in the electronic edition of various newspapers including The News Radars were inactive, not jammed: PAF, PAF's case has been totally messed up and it has been put on the back foot unnecessarily. It was simply bad PR; an would have been far better, with no possibility of laymen's interpretation and distortion of facts by uninformed journalists about matters technical. Like most of you, I have been following the matter over the past few days and would like to offer the factual story as far as is known, without trying to cover any mistakes or offering lame excuses on behalf of what was, formerly, my parent service.

On the night of 2 May, four near-stealth/low observable MH-60 helicopters ingressed unobserved from Bagram to Abbotabad. (Some US websites displaying animated action include two Chinooks, which, to my mind does not make sense as it nullifies the rationale of the other two low observable MH-60s, unless the Chinooks also had stealth features). The helicopter package was able to exploit the blind areas inherent in radars over hilly/broken terrain, while their own low-observable structure helped no less. (It is not true that PAF radars were being given a rest to conserve their life, as has been reported in The News.) It must, however, be noted that it is the PAF's AEW Erieyes that are not operated round-the-clock during peacetime, else we would quickly wear them out.

A package of 6-7 support aircraft including EC-130E/H, MC-130, AC-130, E-3 AWACS and, most ominously, a pair of fighters of unknown type (possibly F-15C), were orbiting in FATA area. It was easy to masquerade this package as the usual retinue of half a dozen Predators, Reapers and Global Surveyors that have been flying in the same area - with government approval and PAF clearance - over the last several years. There was, therefore, no question of this support package arousing any suspicion on this particular night.

As the operation got under way, no Pak Army unit was present in the vicinity of the OBL compound. US assessment was that local Army units in Abbotabad would be able to react effectively, not before one hour at the earliest (to take orders and draw their weapons). It was also surmised that armed soldiers at quarter guards, guard rooms, etc would not leave their posts.

When the firing started, local commanders at Abbotabad rushed to the scene and soon informed GHQ, who in turn got in touch with AHQ. The latter immediately scrambled a pair of F-16s but by the time these got to Abbotabad in about 15 minutes, the operation was over and the helicopters had departed. Without any help from ground radar, the F-16s did not know where to look, as they had no idea that the incursion had been from the west. As a matter of fact, an intrusion from the east was uppermost in their minds. The helicopters once again flew low, through radar gaps and were not spotted either by ground radar or the F-16s. The reality dawned too late that we do not have an antidote to a stealth raiding package. USA carrying out such an attack was the biggest surprise for the PAF as well as the Army.

In some ways, it was fortuitous that PAF F-16s did not pick up the helicopters on their radars, or else the nearby patrolling US fighters would have made short work of them with their long range missiles, what with full communications and radar jamming support available to them.

To say that it was a failure of the PAF to react potently is completely incorrect and unfair. It was simply beyond its technical means to handle fifth-generation warfare vs USA. If it is a failure, it is at the national policy level, whereby US was compelled to sideline its much-ballyhooed ally because of trust deficit.

Editor's comment : Editor is quite familiar with the PAF and its capabilities. Everything the officer has said is fair and reasonable. In matters of defense the Pakistan press is much worse than the Indian press, which is quite bad. Editor is not surprised that the Pakistan press has got everything wrong. In case you are thinking but surely PAF/ISPR knew that the press would muck up the story, you have to remember Pakistan military PR is plain terrible.

We cannot explain the MH-47 mystery, except to say the US has very few of the stealth MH-60s, possibly no more than four operational and perhaps a trainer. Its reasonable to assume it would not deploy more than two for the mission as US has global commitments.

-------------

Best regards.

 

[air marshal]

 

[Manticore]

 

[wild peace]

Eurocopter unveiled its most recent effort to reduce helicopter noise with the radical-looking Blue Edge rotor blade

Sikorsy S-70i

 

[manojb]

pak got stealth heli part and us got laptop memory stick hell lot of treasure from haveli. lets see how much each worth. if isi/army really unaware of osama then congrats pak/china. you got urself a new r&d job. otherwise stealth helo parts going back to its owner!!!t

my prediction was right. it went to its owner. another setback for pak.

 

[nightcrawler]

This isn't the heli displayed in video...thus its not Sikorsky but Comanche AH-66

see the engines air inlets are masked; plus the secondary rockets are protriding from within the fuselage ...implying internal weapon bay

 

[mughaljee]