While the question of how and if the US managed to elude Pakistani radars during a daring raid to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad persists, images of a crashed US helicopter have given a fresh angle to the debate. Photographs acquired by Reuters taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning US raid on Bin Laden’s compound show unusual wreckage of one of the two helicopters used.
According to British daily The Guardian, a number of military analysts believe the photographs show “unknown modifications” to the aircraft, seemingly to reduce its radar visibility and muffle noise.
“Did the US Navy Seal team sneak up to his compound using previously top-secret ‘stealth’ helicopters?” the newspaper questions.
It also contended that, aside from being aided by the possible stealth technology, US military choppers entered Pakistan’s airspace by making use of blind spots in radar coverage caused by hilly terrain.
US forces had lost the crashed helicopter in the picture due to a mechanical problem – but then obliterated the wreckage, ostensibly so that the technology could not be studied.
The Guardian quoted a former US special operations air expert saying that the “distinctive hard-angled shape of the destroyed Blackhawk resembled the fuselage of the F-117 Stealth Fighter, which is designed to deflect radar signals”.
Other photos show a circular cover over the helicopter’s tail rotor, which could be intended to dampen noise, making it harder to anticipate the aircraft’s arrival.
The US military has previously experimented with stealth helicopters. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM REUTERS)
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2011.
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