Is this really a Blackhawk ?

[TonkaRepairMan]

Just seen this photo of the helicopter that went down during the Osama raid. This does not look like a Blackhawk tail rotor to me.........any ideas ?

http://images.defensetech.org/wp-conten ... -rotor.jpg

[Kurosaki]

Yeah...I've been looking into this as well. Here are other pictures (real? photoshopped?...not quite sure what to make of all of this because the news only reports one making a 'hard landing', not getting its tail snapped off...wheres the rest of the thing?)

https://cencio4.wordpress.com/tag/stealth-rotor/

One thing is for sure, the elevator is swept forward, not just a plank like the regular H-60...and the angles/edges are suspiciously stealth aircraft like.

[djnocturnal]

modified Blackhawks? looks odd if those are the real pictures.

[btaylo24]

A lot of chat on some forums about this chopper. Does not look like a Blackhawk!
Maybe one that has been modified for spec ops. Looks like the tail of a rah-66 to me!
Also been mentioned that the rq170 was involved.

[BadPvtDan]

We have a Blackhawk pilot on the forums, correct?

[MIKE JG]

Interesting....

[scottr5213]

MH-60L
http://www.apacheclips.com/media/32107/ ... shot_down/

[Victory103]

We have a Blackhawk pilot on the forums, correct?

Yes we do, and I've been with the H-60 series for 18+ years now, not a "known" H-60 that I know of. The artists concepts only adding to the mystery.

[msm8378]

Try RAH-66 or a derivative thereof....

Mat

P.s. me thinks low-profile gun ship in support of a/c transporting assault team....just a guess, but an educated one...

[btaylo24]

Interesting article

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/05/a ... wk-050411/

[MIKE JG]

I call BS on that article. Why would a "retired" special ops aviator be speaking publicly about this sort of technology?

I'm not buying a word of this article.

[djnocturnal]

wow....A stealth blackhawk.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/navy-sea ... d=13525344

[miljan]

http://www.mycity-military.com/slika.ph ... 20HAWK.jpg
Now I don't have what to hide

[msm8378]

Mike is right...no authentic SpecOps types are going to comment in detail on this subject.

I have been retired from the Army/SpecOps for 17+ years now, myself. I know what the "special" equipment was of my time, but as we all have seen technology has obviously come a long ways since the 80's and 90's, and even more since 9/11.

Rest assured that someday we all may see and know exactly what this "bird" is and then we shall eagerly await the MAIW team to package her up for enjoyment by all.

I myself have several additional guesses as to what this bird is, but even I am not going to "break-ranks" and speak out of hand even with my "prime" days of service being long gone. For those who have served in the SpecOps community all know and respect our positions as "Quiet Professionals".

In other words, time to move on and back to the business of what we know...this new "predator" will grace our flightsims soon enough in the years to come.

Mat

[MIKE JG]

That last link posted by Miljan is probably the closest thing to what it actually is. That's my guess.

[maddog65]

I call BS on that article. Why would a "retired" special ops aviator be speaking publicly about this sort of technology?

I'm not buying a word of this article.

Army Times, Navy Times they are all the same. We call the Navy Times the Navy Enquirer or any of the other tabloids that are placed for sale at the checkout lane. The people at the Army,Navy, Air Force and Marine Corp Times papers seem to go out and find anybody that will talk to them even if it was SN Schmuckately who took out the trash one day when PO3 was talking about a game he played and he mentioned stealth.

[Jumpshot724]

It looked very Raptor/commanche-like stealth to me. I guess parts of the Commanche program still live on

[btaylo24]

Might be BS, but looks like he got the BS right?

[Kurosaki]

I was a bit skeptical myself, as only a few small random sites and articles would mention it...and not that major news outlets picking it up make it credible, but they have been discussing it more and more. Interesting piece of equipment none the less.

[MIKE JG]

Speaking of helicopters, what's this on the back of this Apache, on the exhausts? Looks like some sort or IR suppression add on??

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffwelker/5695410666/