Raid Revelation: US Has Top Secret Stealth Helicopter

Military analysts say wreckage looks like modified Blackhawk
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted May 5, 2011 7:32 AM CDT
Updated May 5, 2011 7:51 AM CDT
Osama bin Laden Raid Revelation: US Has Top Secret Stealth Helicopter
A Pakistani youngster shows metal pieces apparently from a US helicopter collected from the wheat field outside a house, where Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, May 3, 2011.   (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

How did an elite team of Navy SEALs manage to sneak up on Osama bin Laden, apparently catching him in his pajamas? With the help of top secret stealth helicopters, it seems. One of the Blackhawk helicopters used by the SEALs was damaged during the raid after clipping one of the compound's walls, forcing the team to destroy it with explosives before they left. But photos of the wreckage that remains appear to show a never-before-seen stealth helicopter that up until now was only rumored to exist, experts tell ABC News and the Army Times.

Among the changes the experts noted: a modified tail section, a noise-reducing rotor covering, a high-tech material like what is used in stealth fighters, and severe angles and flat surfaces also common to stealth jets. A former Department of Defense official describes the likely result: "You wouldn't know that it was coming right at you. And that's what's important, because these are coming in fast and low, and if they aren't sounding like they're coming right at you, you might not even react until it's too late." (More Blackhawk helicopter stories.)

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