The US forces who raided the safehouse of Osama Bin Laden appear to have caught him completely by surprise - and to have avoided detection by Pakistani radar. How did they do it? One answer, experts believe, is that the special operations team used previously unseen stealth helicopters. The evidence for this comes from images of the wreckage of one of the helicopters, which departing Seals destroyed after it crash landed in the compound. The tail of the top secret aircraft survived, providing a treasure chest of clues for aviation experts.
After some detective work, these experts have concluded it was a UH Blackhawk, heavily modified to make it quieter and less visible to radar. They are confident the raid marks the first time that a stealth helicopter has been used operationally.
Todd Harrison, who directs the aerospace security project at the Center for Strategic and International studies, sees it the same way. But it could be helpful to just be less observable, or less loud, than usual. Photographic evidence provided a tease of the design of the helicopters used in the raid, and people dug into it right away in Because one of the Black Hawks crashed—the team blew it up before they departed—a piece of the tail remained.
Looking at that photograph in the present day, Osborne comments that a few modifications from a standard Black Hawk are clear. An additional blade or blades would let that rotor spin more slowly, but still achieve the performance the helicopter needs.
He also notes the presence of additional smooth, cover-like material. A tradeoff may have been that it was heavier. It may not have been a completely stealth helicopter, but it may have been a stealthier one. Black Hawk helicopters are made by Sikorsky, which is part of Lockheed Martin, and Doug Birkey, the executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, sees a possible connection between a canceled Boeing-Sikorsky helicopter program called Comanche and the retrofitted helicopters of the raid.
That, plus following a careful route into Pakistan that they had figured out in advance, would have helped. As Mark Bowden says in his work The Finish —a thorough journalistic account of the mission and events preceding it—a drone called the RQ Sentinel played a key role, too. That drone is less of a secretive entity than the helicopters, to be sure, and the Sentinel was known for flying out of Kandahar, Afghanistan.
It was to hide from our partners, the Pakistanis. He covers aviation, the military, transportation, security, and other complex tech topics. Contact the author here. 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. According to examiner. It was never operational. Much of that development happened at Sikorsky's Bridgeport Comanche plant located in the city's South End.
Production of the Comanche would have taken place in Bridgeport. Boeing was to be responsible for manufacturing and assembling the composite tail section and rotor blades and Sikorsky for manufacture of the main fuselage and gearbox and for integration and final assembly of the airframe.
While Sikorsky or Lockheed could have done the upgrades to the Comanche, Special Ops Command might have done it internally to reduce the number of people who know about the stealth technology. Analysts said if the Sikorsky helicopter had not made a hard landing during the mission, their stealth existence might still be secret. More News. Officials: Bridgeport man accused of spraying pepper spray on Bridgeport community farm may share space with new library.
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