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Something interesting popped-up in the Bin Laden raid photos: a previously unknown stealth helicopter!
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/top-s...-program-revealed-osama-bin/story?id=13530693
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/awx/2011/05/03/awx_05_03_2011_p0-318248.xml&headline=Bin%20Laden%20Raid%20May%20Have%20Exposed%20Stealth%20Helicopter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden#Execution_of_the_operation
That's pretty extrordinary since the only known stealth helicopter, the Commanche, was publicly known and in development for 13 years before being canceled in 2004.
Speculation is that it is a modified version of the [S/C/M]H-60 [Black/Sea]hawk. Note the angular (stealthy) features in the tail boom and the plate on the rotor (to reduce noise). There's still a significant issue with the story, though: how many helicopters of what type were actually involved? It was first said that there were 79 soldiers and a dog in the raid, carried by 2 Army (!?) CH-60 Blackhawks. If only the Army has the stealth version, that would explain why they weren't Navy, but there is still the capacity issue: the H-60 a medium-sized helicopter and has a capacity of 16. It's nowhere close to big enough for he task if there really were 79 troops on the ground. However, I'm also seeing 24 SEALS and a total of 79, which included intelligence and other support personnel. Perhaps that's just a mis-report or they included everyone who was airborne at the time (which makes the number seem small to me) or they used more or different helicopters.
I had somehow gotten it into my head they used CH-53 Sea Stallions, which have a capacity of 38 troops, two pilots and a crew cheif, which gets us pretty close to the 79. It's also been reported they had CH-47 Chinooks on standby. Perhaps there were back-up troops in them, to get us to the 79. They are big too, with a capcity of up to 55. Regardless of all this, the tail configuration in the attached photo is closest to the H-60, so that theory seems most reasonable to me.
Thoughts?
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/top-s...-program-revealed-osama-bin/story?id=13530693
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/awx/2011/05/03/awx_05_03_2011_p0-318248.xml&headline=Bin%20Laden%20Raid%20May%20Have%20Exposed%20Stealth%20Helicopter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden#Execution_of_the_operation
That's pretty extrordinary since the only known stealth helicopter, the Commanche, was publicly known and in development for 13 years before being canceled in 2004.
Speculation is that it is a modified version of the [S/C/M]H-60 [Black/Sea]hawk. Note the angular (stealthy) features in the tail boom and the plate on the rotor (to reduce noise). There's still a significant issue with the story, though: how many helicopters of what type were actually involved? It was first said that there were 79 soldiers and a dog in the raid, carried by 2 Army (!?) CH-60 Blackhawks. If only the Army has the stealth version, that would explain why they weren't Navy, but there is still the capacity issue: the H-60 a medium-sized helicopter and has a capacity of 16. It's nowhere close to big enough for he task if there really were 79 troops on the ground. However, I'm also seeing 24 SEALS and a total of 79, which included intelligence and other support personnel. Perhaps that's just a mis-report or they included everyone who was airborne at the time (which makes the number seem small to me) or they used more or different helicopters.
I had somehow gotten it into my head they used CH-53 Sea Stallions, which have a capacity of 38 troops, two pilots and a crew cheif, which gets us pretty close to the 79. It's also been reported they had CH-47 Chinooks on standby. Perhaps there were back-up troops in them, to get us to the 79. They are big too, with a capcity of up to 55. Regardless of all this, the tail configuration in the attached photo is closest to the H-60, so that theory seems most reasonable to me.
Thoughts?
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