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ABC News: New Stealth Helicopter Used in Osama Raid?


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Interesting stuff for military hardware junkies.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/top-secret-stealth-helicopter-program-revealed-osama-bin/story?id=13530693

more at link

Before an elite team of U.S. Navy SEALs executed a daring raid that took down Osama bin Laden, the commandos were able to silently sneak up on their elusive target thanks to what aviation analysts said were top secret, never-before-seen stealth-modified helicopters.

In the course of the operation that cost the al Qaeda leader his life, one of the two Blackhawk helicopters that carried the SEALs into bin Laden's Pakistani compound grazed one of the compound's wall and was forced to make a hard landing. With the chopper inoperable, at the end of the mission the SEALs destroyed it with explosives.

But photos of what survived the explosion -- the tail section of the craft with curious modifications -- has sent military analysts buzzing about a stealth helicopter program that was only rumored to exist. From a modified tail boom to a noise reducing covering on the rear rotors and a special high-tech material similar to that used in stealth fighters, former Department of Defense official and vice president of the Lexington Institute Dan Goure said the bird is like nothing he's ever seen before.

A couple pics of the tail rotor from the damaged helicopter that was burned to the ground after the raid, that's no normal Blackhawk.

ht_copter_crash_2_jef_110504_wg.jpg

From Daily Beast:

img-hp-main---osama-bin-laden-new-photos-released_173654922712.jpg

The tail of a normal UH-60 Blackhawk.

4819276505_83a83583f3.jpg

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I was wondering how we could've sent 2 choppers in and the people at the compound not get suspiscous. Well, I guess this is why lol
This and the fact that Osama was hiding near a military training complex so I would assume the sound of an approaching helicopter was not exactly out of the ordinary.
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This and the fact that Osama was hiding near a military training complex so I would assume the sound of an approaching helicopter was not exactly out of the ordinary.

True, but one landing right in the compound would certainly be louder than ones just passing by

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how do you make a rotery blad stealthy? How much money does it take to purchase a stealthy fighter... a few hundred million?

I hope they haven't spent that kind of money on making a stealthy helecopter which has a range of only a few hundred miles and can't go faster than like 200 mph. Some kid with a 22 could knock it down.

I could see spending money on making it quieter, but stealthy? How much steal is required to defeat Pakistan's "air defenses"?

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One key to the chopper's stealth nature is a secret, heavily-coated, fabric-like material, which children in the neighborhood were seen collecting.

The Chinese military is known to have close relationships with the Pakistani military.

"There are probably people in the Pentagon tonight who are very concerned that pieces of the helicopter may be, even now, on their way to China, because we know that China is trying to make stealth aircraft," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=8112975

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Just how "stealth" was it though, cuz the dude in the neighborhood who tweeted the whole thing live said her heard helicopters flying around...

I mean, i doubt it could be completely silent, but maybe its just much more quiet? regular choppers are pretty loud..

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So the pictures of a tail rotor section are from a helicoptor with no tail rotor?

No, there's a tail rotor in the pic.

---------- Post added May-5th-2011 at 10:19 AM ----------

Just how "stealth" was it though, cuz the dude in the neighborhood who tweeted the whole thing live said her heard helicopters flying around...

I mean, i doubt it could be completely silent, but maybe its just much more quiet? regular choppers are pretty loud..

When people say a plane or helicopter is "stealthy," they usually mean that it is more difficult to detect on radar than an ordinary helicopter or plane. The helicopter used in the raid might have been designed to be quiter than an ordinary helicopter, but I'm sure it was still pretty ****ing loud.

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When people say a plane or helicopter is "stealthy," they usually mean that it is more difficult to detect on radar than an ordinary helicopter or plane. The helicopter used in the raid might have been designed to be quiter than an ordinary helicopter, but I'm sure it was still pretty ****ing loud.

Exactly, I mean seriously though to me this is a real no brainer, and quite honestly I can't help but say, "Well DUH!!" Even the most stealthy airplane still sounds like an extremely loud jet engine! Hellooo! I guess we've been duped by Hollywood once again into thinking that stealth helicopters would be able to go into whisper mode so that your average ceiling fan would make more noise.

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Additionally, according to an article I read in the NYT yesterday they were using flying maneuvers (hugging the terrain) to further elude radar. Like someone already said, stealth doesn't mean undetectable by radar. Rather VIRTUALLY undetectable. I think the stealth fighter has a radar signature that is only 3-5 inches or so. The angles on the surface of a stealth fighter (that's why it has a weird shape as opposed to conventional fighters like the F-22) disperse radar so it doesn't reflect a lot back AND the coating absorbs some as well.

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Additionally, according to an article I read in the NYT yesterday they were using flying maneuvers (hugging the terrain) to further elude radar.

Yeah, that's standard nap of the earth flying, VERY LOW....make you pinch a hole in your seat low.

Like someone already said, stealth doesn't mean undetectable by radar. Rather VIRTUALLY undetectable.

It also doesn't mean silent.

I think the stealth fighter has a radar signature that is only 3-5 inches or so. The angles on the surface of a stealth fighter (that's why it has a weird shape as opposed to conventional fighters like the F-22) disperse radar so it doesn't reflect a lot back AND the coating absorbs some as well.

They used to say that the B-2 had the radar signature of a bumblebee, my thought was..."Well, ok just look for the 500mph bumblebee." :ols:

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The angles on the surface of a stealth fighter (that's why it has a weird shape as opposed to conventional fighters like the F-22) disperse radar so it doesn't reflect a lot back AND the coating absorbs some as well.

f-22 is stealth.

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