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Raid Revelation: US Has Top Secret Stealth Helicopter

Military analysts say wreckage looks like modified Blackhawk

By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff

Posted May 5, 2011 7:32 AM CDT | Updated May 5, 2011 7:51 AM CDT

(Newser) – How did an elite team of Navy SEALs manage to sneak up on Osama bin Laden, apparently catching him in his pajamas? With the help of top secret stealth helicopters, it seems. One of the Blackhawk helicopters used by the SEALs was damaged during the raid after clipping one of the compound's walls, forcing the team to destroy it with explosives before they left. But photos of the wreckage that remains appear to show a never-before-seen stealth helicopter that up until now was only rumored to exist, experts tell ABC News and the Army Times.

Among the changes the experts noted: a modified tail section, a noise-reducing rotor covering, a high-tech material like what is used in stealth fighters, and severe angles and flat surfaces also common to stealth jets. A former Department of Defense official describes the likely result: "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."

A Pakistani youngster shows metal pieces apparently from a US helicopter collected from the wheat field outside a house, where Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, May 3, 2011.
A Pakistani youngster shows metal pieces apparently from a US helicopter collected from the wheat field outside a house, where Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, May 3, 2011.   (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
A crashed military helicopter is seen near the hideout of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after a ground operation by US Special Forces in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011.
A crashed military helicopter is seen near the hideout of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after a ground operation by US Special Forces in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011.   (Getty Images)
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There are probably people in the Pentagon tonight who are very concerned that pieces of the helicopter may be on their way to China, because we know that China is trying to make stealth aircraft. - Former White House counterterrorism advisor Richard Clarke

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 18 comments
Rational.-Anarchist
May 5, 2011 7:27 PM CDT
Correction: U.S. HAD a stealth chopper, until now.
YetAnotherCollegeKid
May 5, 2011 1:05 PM CDT
Seriously, could this get any more like a video game?
3beansgraphictees
May 5, 2011 12:09 PM CDT
The MH-60K Black Hawk is an advanced model of the US Army’s UH-60 helicopter. These highly specialized helicopters are designed for special operations support missions and are operated by the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR). On May 1, 2011 MH-60s flown by SOAR operators carried SEAL TEAM 6 into a secured private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where Osama Bin Laden was subsequently shot and killed. http://tinyurl.com/6e9qeky
 

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