I remember being on base in Pensacola during my Navy training in 1988 and being astonished when two helicopters in the distance suddenly went completely silent. Now I wonder if I was watching some of these stealth helicopters.
The May 2 raid on Osama bin Laden’s luxury compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, had it all: painstaking intelligence-gathering, a heroic Navy SEAL assault team, satellite and drone surveillance, and biometric forensics.
And now this: a possible super-secret, stealthy helicopter, unknown to the wider world before one crashed during the assault.
via Aviation Geeks Scramble to ID bin Laden Raid’s Mystery Copter | Danger Room | Wired.com.
I think it’s possible but what’s the life cycle on tech in the military? That would be 23 years ago. So, it might be and probably was a earlier version of the modern ones but depending on life cycle it’s probably not the same helos…
Btw, when do you want to come with me to the gun range?!? 🙂
For all the hand-wringing when the military procures new aircraft, our armed forces tend to take good care of those aircraft. Some of them (like the B-52, for instance) have been flying close to 60 years!
I understand that…My question is do you think the helos you saw in the late 80s are probably the same helos that were used for OBL? I don’t know so I gotta ask someone who might know
It’s possible. I didn’t get a good look at the helos I saw and only a small glimpse of the helo used in the OBL raid. I’ve also been out of the Navy for 20 years now, so a lot has changed.
The UH-60 Blackhawk (the model said to be used in the raid) has been flying for 35 years now, so it’s certainly possible.
that would have been cool to be able to see them. Thanks for your service, dude! 🙂
If they weren’t the same, maybe they were an earlier version.
Regardless, Go Navy 🙂