Posted on 05/05/2011 6:04:58 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
(CBS News)THE PENTAGON - Surprise was a key element in the raid that brought Navy SEALs to kill Osama bin Laden's at his compound in Pakistan. Stealth helicopters helped the Americans get in undetected.
The SEALs did the shooting inside bin Laden's compound, but an elite Army unit called Task Force 160 flew them there and back, and the pilot of one of the Blackhawk helicopters may have been the difference between success and failure, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.
The SEALs were about to fast rope into the courtyard in front of bin Laden's house when the Blackhawk lost lift. Imagine what would have happened if it had crashed into the courtyard with all its SEALs still aboard.
Chris Marvin doesn't have to imagine. It happened to him in Afghanistan.
"How close did he come? As close as any helicopter pilot can, maybe closer," said Marvin, "but he had or she had the talent and skill level to land the aircraft safely and let everybody off without injuries."
During the mission early Monday morning in Pakistan, the pilot nudged the Blackhawk forward into a controlled crash but sheered off its tail section. The SEALs were able to continue with their mission and, before they left, blew up as much of the Blackhawk as they could but had to leave the tail section intact.
That gave aviation expert Bill Sweetman his first good look at a stealth helicopter.
"I think nobody outside the classified community really knew these existed," Sweetman said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
We were told that they practiced for 6 months on a real-life mockup of the compound.
How could they not know the effect the walls would have?
It appears that it was impossible for it to be a she since they don’t have any “shes”, CBS and the author just created propaganda by giving that fake information to the public.
Can’t we simply applaud their skills and courage, as fellow humans, on behalf of our Republic without getting into your “stuff”?
That was what I was thinking. Now, did two helicopters land in the compound, or one. Where were the other two helicopters positioned, outside the compound with component spread out and expecting combat? I have a hunch that there was some confusion that hasn’t been reported. If one helicopter crashed, was there room in the compound for a larger chopper, perhaps over where they burned the garbage? Has anyone stated how many took part in the raid? Would 28 seem excessive?
nully ducking and sprinting for cover...
Yup, this article got me wondering the same thing about whether this was an ‘affirmative action’ action.
So, you think she was trying to parallel-park the thing?
O.K. ... I don’t see a pic, mate. Not even a ref... can you post a link or something instead?
That’s how stealthy it is! You can’t see anything at all, no traces, nothing.
Can’t even imagine there were stealth Chinooks.
More likely, two stealthy Blackhawks went in first, then the Chinooks arrived once the threats were neutralized.
Relative humidity, temperature and altitude/air density would all effect the performance AND the ground effect. It would be pretty hard to duplicate ALL the variables that could be encountered, no matter how hard they trained.
Tomorrow, Jay Carney will tell us it went:
PILOT: “Mr. President! My Blackhawk is losing lift. What should I do, sir?”
Zero: “Stay calm, airman. I have planned out to the very last detail every possible contigency. Nudge your Blackhawk forward into a controlled crash, but be careful not to sheer off its tail section.”
PILOT: “Mr. President! The tail section sheered off! What should I do, sir?”
Zero: “Stay calm, airman. Already last August, when I took the gutsy decision to personally assemble your team, I anticipated that the tail section of your Blackhawk would indeed be sheered off. The SEALs already have my orders to destroy as much of the Blackhawk as possible, being careful, however, not to leave the tail section intact.”
PILOT: “Mr. President....” [garbled]
— 38 minute blackout —
UNKNOWN: “GERONIMO!”
ZERO: “Find out who said that! I did not approve as a code word that ugly slur against our Native American friends.”
More likely, two stealthy Blackhawks went in first, then the Chinooks arrived once the threats were neutralized.
So let me get this straight. at least 4 helicopters, two stealthy went into the heart of Pakistan, undetected, landed in a courtyard that couldn’t hold more than two helicopters, while two helicopters hovered above, went in, took out the target, dragged the body to the copter, got out, flew to an aircraft carrier, more than likely monitored from China, took a DNA sample, confirmed it, had a funeral, wrapped the body in a shroud(didn’t know aircraft carriers carried shrouds) , flew the team home from the aircraft carrier, meanwhile they were in a military district and being 11 hours behind did this in broad daylight?
Uh. Yeah right.
You might be surprised what capabilities a carrier has. The law of averages opens up a lot of possibilities when you have that many people in one place doing a lot of dangerous stuff.
Wife just told me it happened 1:30 am Paki time. My bad.
WOPA member since 1969. ‘If you ain’t Cav, you ain’t S__t’.
Not necessarily...just having a mock-up compound to practice on isn’t the same as having an exact duplicate. Other people have SAT capabilites also they could pass on. Sometime just the outline of walls is all that is used.
Very impressive.
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