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. The helicopters carrying the SEALs arrived over the bin Laden compound at about 1 a.m. Monday local time. One crash-landed in the courtyard and was so badly damaged it was unable to take off again.
That crash landing might have been caused by a phenomenon known as “settling with power,” which occurs when a helicopter descends too quickly because its rotors cannot get the lift required from the turbulent air of their own downwash. “It’s hard to settle with power in a Black Hawk, but then again, if they were using one of these [low-observable helicopters], working at max gross weight, it’s certainly plausible that they could have because they would have been flying so heavy,” the retired special operations aviator said, noting that low-observable modifications added “several hundred pounds” to the weight of the MH-60, which already weighs about 500 to 1000 pounds more than a regular UH-60 Black Hawk.
Pakistan has come down heavily on the United States for remarks that Islamabad could not be trusted with details of "Operation Geronimo" which killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, it has been reported.
, told the BBC on Wednesday that the U.S. view was "disquieting" and claimed that Islamabad had played a "pivotal role" in tackling terrorism.
"Most of these things that have happened in terms of global anti-terror, Pakistan has played a pivotal role. So it's a little disquieting when we have comments like this," he said.
CIA Director Leon Panetta has been quoted as saying that Pakistani authorities were not taken into confidence by his spy agency while planning "Operation Geronimo," fearing that it could be jeopardized.
"The CIA had ruled out participating with its nominal South Asian ally early on. It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission. They might alert the targets," Panetta told Time magazine in an interview regarded as his first since bin Laden's killing.
Bashir said Panetta was indeed entitled to his views but it could not be denied that Pakistan had cooperated fully with the U.S.-led war on terror. Also, the top diplomat said bin Laden's fortified hideout in the garrison town of Abbottabad near Islamabad had been identified as suspicious by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency sometime back.
Bin Laden was killed early on Sunday in a covert operation by the elite U.S. Navy SEALS commandos. The White House said on Tuesday that bin Laden was unarmed at the time of his killing.
Sources tell PIX 11News an unattended black suitcase with the picture of Osama Bin Laden on it was discovered on a subway platform. Police resolved the situation without incident. Police were taking no chances when they briefly evacuated part of midtown Manhattan today.
Cops were also checking out a suspicious package today in the subway near 34th street and 8th avenue.
Penn Station, Times Square, Bryant Park, Grand Central Port Authority, and the Financial District are just some of the iconic locations and transport hubs getting extra security attention today even as officials warn right now there are no specific or credible threats against the city.
What worries security officials the most is a so-called Lone Wolf attack like the car bomb that almost blew up a year ago in Times Square.
