Spooky!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. helicopter gunship conducted a strike against two suspected al Qaeda operatives in southern Somalia, but it was not known whether the mission was successful, CBS News reported on Monday.
The U.S. Air Force helicopter, operated by the Special Operations Command, flew from its base in Djibouti to the southern tip of Somalia, where the al Qaeda suspects were believed to have fled from the capital Mogadishu, the U.S. network reported.
A Pentagon spokesman said he had no information on the report.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-01-09T000337Z_01_N08415011_RTRUKOC_0_US-SOMALIA-QAEDA-REPORT.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-6
A helo with a 20mm gatling is plenty of firepower for a small band of warlords/terrorists on the ground
Ah, Reuters and CBS are already giving their jihadi allies an opening.
"Abdul, quickly, start rounding up lots of toys! Mohammed, go out and gun down some children and babies! I'll start making the "day care center" signs! We've got lots of work to do!"
I doubt that Reuters has the straight skinny. They are even more clueless than CBS. It's also possible that both Pavelow (MH-53) were involved. The nice thing about the Pavelow, it that it can carry a few special ops troopers, for a snatch and grab, or just to exploit the mess left after the AC-130
does its thang. They are both part of USAF Special Operations, along with the HC-130s, which also support the Spec Ops community.
Picture below is the MH-53J, but the latest is the MH-53M.
The Air Force doesn't really have a helicopter Gunship.
Although the MH-60 and MH-53 can put down a goodly amount of suppressive fire in support of troops.
AF MH-53s led Army AH-64s in the opening attacks of Dessert Storm.