Posted on 05/04/2011 8:54:09 PM PDT by tophat9000
I’m still skeptical, but Army Times’ ace reporter on all things special ops, Sean Naylor, used his very good source base to produce this piece saying that the secret helicopter that crashed during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was indeed a stealth version of the MH-60 Black Hawk.
The helicopters that flew the Navy SEALs on the mission to kill Osama bin Laden were a radar-evading variant of the special operations MH-60 Black Hawk, according to a retired special operations aviator.
The helicopter’s low-observable technology is similar to that of the F-117 Stealth Fighter the retired special operations aviator said. “It really didn’t look like a traditional Black Hawk,” he said. It had “hard edges, sort of like an … F-117, you know how they have those distinctive edges and angles — that’s what they had on this one.”
In addition, “in order to keep the radar cross-section down, you have to do something to treat the windshield,” he said. If a special coating was applied to the windshield it is “very plausible” that would make the helicopter more difficult to fly for pilots wearing night-vision goggles, he said.
Read more: http://defensetech.org/#ixzz1LRhdHOoD Defense.org
“Whisper” mode?
What’s left was carried away on trucks by the Pakistanis. Without doubt it’ll be in China’s hands by the weekend.
I find it hard to believe that they’d leave such secret and valuable technology behind for anyone to find.
Believe it. We’ve done it before.
On the front page there’s a video of one part of what the Pakistanis took away on trucks. Not sure how sensitive what was left behind is though.
Since The Pakistanis are such good partners on the War On Terror they will just give it back. /S
Giving it to China should be considered as an Hostile attack on American Property by the Pakistanis.
The closest I could image to whisper mode is to auto rotate in for a landing.
That could explain why the one didn’t quite make the wall.
Actually they used a tractor and a wagon.
no doubt the Chicoms are as happy to get that as we are to get Bin Laden
I thought it was borrowed rickshaws
The tail section is different, but does not appear especially "secret". I would guess that a fenestron tail rotor
or the Hughes NOTAR are much quieter that this design.
The main secret technology will be in the avionics and the rotor blade tips. They probably managed to destroy most, if not all of the avionics. If the blade tips were composite and the pilot(s) was not otherwise occupied then they were probably dealt with.
These upgrades came from the cancelled COMMANCHE program I guess?
Something like that LoL
Nifty.
Autorotations are not exactly quiet. The CH-53 sounds like a Stuka dive bomber (at least from inside the cockpit) during the first part of an autorotation. Then the big roar comes in when you pull pitch at the bottom. Sounds kinda like a C-130 reversing props on a short field landing.
If you can hit an LZ power on, you also should be able to in a planned autorotation. My guess is that the first bird into the LZ did not land far enough forward, leaving too little room for Dash 2. Wiser to hang your tail over the wall than to hit your ride out (the first bird) with your rotor blades.
Just a guess.
Then the big roar comes in when you pull pitch at the bottom.
I have never been through one. I can imagine this to be true but I would think is all quieter than engines running.
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