Stealth Helicopter Revealed

[deathfromafar]

I can't believe no one here picked up on this yet? This is the tail section & tail rotor of what crashed in Pakistan.
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Word has it that it is not only Stealthy, but also nearly silent. Residents in the area reported that just before the raid all electrical services,land line/cell phone service, radio & tv transmissions went totally dead. It is believed that the latter was facilitated by both EW capability of this type of chopper and the EA-18G Growler's that were confirmed used in the mission.

[TARPSBird]

Maybe some clever sound suppression attachments there but if there was any sensitive stealth technology in the tail rotor I'm sure the SEALs would have destroyed it. They did a thorough job of torching the rest of the helo inside the compound.

[deathfromafar]

The entire site was covered with skin materials of the chopper as well as this intact tail. The night conditions and other dynamic conditions may have caused them to miss that piece since it was on the outside of the compound but they did destroy the electronics and main fuselage. That tail & rotor hub is without question highly specialized in design/construction and materials. The Pakistani Army has removed the remains and relocated them. I hope we locate and destroy them before they end up on an IL-76 to China.

[kilo delta]

The helicopter was mentioned in the FSX section. It's though to be a specialised version of the MH-60. It may have stalled when coming under rpg fire on approach to the compound. Apart from the obvious new tail rotor assembly, the helicopter appears to have some low observable stealth materials.
Helicopter noise suppression is not new eg there were special "silent" versions of the OH-6 used in SEA for dropping listening bugs along the Ho Chi Minh trail.


http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?53122-Maybe-a-new-helo-to-model

[Roadburner440]

It is certaintly an interesting piece of an aircraft. I am unsure if it is an H-60 type derivitive or not though... Also I am unsure as to why they would have added the 5th tail rotor blade as the tail cone/tail rotor pylon cannot handle the power our standard 4 bladed rotors put out. They have a lot of people theorizing what this aircraft would have looked like, and some of those are here: http://defensetech.org/2011/05/04/what-the-secret-bin-laden-raid-helo-might-look-like/ . My main problem with the tail pylon is the horizontal stabilator is vastly different from the ones we normally use.. We have an upper and lower actuator encased in the pylon itself that moves the horizontal stab up and down for the AFCS depending on airspeed.. These stabs not only appear to be angled, but also not connected in the middle by anything.... Could go on all day, but in the end all I know is this looks to be one heck of a bird. Really wish I could see what the overall product looks like. The Seals destroyed the avionics, and that is the most important pieces of the whole bird.. Even if they get the coatings, and the rotor design they will NOT have the electronics... Also as far as the Seals not doing a "good job" blowing up the entire bird. On the H-60 that particular piece is held on by 2 shear bolts, and an expandable pin (to enable it to fold for storage).. So when they blew the primary structure to destroy the electronics that piece most likely got thrown away from the fire which is why it is mostly undamaged as it is designed to break off in the event of a crash. As soon as photobucket comes back up I will get some pictures up of these areas... For all aircraft though that I know of (especially our MH-60R's) the only thing they care about you destroying is the electronics, and classified communications equipment. That is why there is an ax in the cabin of every H-60. Not so you can extricate yourself, but so you can destroy all the avionics in the cabin. So in that regard the Seals mission was accomplished.

[Roadburner440]

Photo time! So here are some of the H-60's at my work.

http://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u359/Roadburner426/H-60/100_0001.jpg
Broken down tail pylon (with the stabs removed). Can see a folded tail in the backround.So the piece certaintly looks like it could have broken off from a 60 of some kind. My only question is that bubbles cowling that comes off the back, and how the stabs woud work..

http://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u359/Roadburner426/H-60/100_0349.jpg
Overview of the tail pylon itself.. Can see the one pictured differs a lot from the actual H-60 standard pylon. Also can see the 2 bolts at the joint that hold it onto the airframe. It definitely has my attention as I would like to see one of these "black project" birds looks like.

[stiz]

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gotta admit .. the first ones possible, who knows what toys the secret bobs have ... allthough it does ask the question, when does a "mod" become a rebuild/new mark/new thing entirely

[Roadburner440]

Well my only issue really is that if they ducted the exhaust through the tail cone to cool it to get rid of the IR signature (like the Commanche) you would need to go through the upper structure of the aircraft. Not to mention have a place to put it in the tail cone. Now I have only worked on 60's with the t-section tail strut, and not the ones with the Blackhawk style tails at the end of the tail cone. Even then the flight control cables go through the upper cabin, along the roof, and come down from the roof and pass through some guide holes in the tail... Not to mention the weight of all these added panels, components, and all the gear the Seals probably take with them. The MH-60R (the new looking bird behind the dirty tail in the one pic) is already pushing the maximum weight limit of the H-60 without all that extra stuff. Have read some of the military aviation guru's have theorized the extra weight may have been what did it in on landing... Not sure where you draw the line at mod, and new airframe though. From all the photos I have seen though the bird was definately extensively modified. There is a picture showing what is left of the fuselage/main rotor head components. Looked like they were running the standard drive train, and rotor head. http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/world/2011/05/04/inside-bin-ladens-secret-hideaway/#slide=5 I did see a spindle that looked pretty wicked compared to ours. Like they purposely removed material from it to lighten it. From what I can see of the blades it looks like the standard H-60 blades, but without seeing the tip cap end not sure if they were tappered at all to reduce the acoustic signature. They really did a number blowing it up though, cause all the flight controls (hyd servo's, linkages, mixer assembly, and forward bridge support) should be attached at the base of that rotor head. That stuff is made out of pretty thick metal too, and it is all completely gone.

[centuryseries]

There is an image floating around on the internet of the main wreckage that clearly shows what looks to be a standard H-60 main rotor hub.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kFC_dTlxCxg/TcIQId9_tfI/AAAAAAAABFk/lbTjb-7ssYw/nessie.jpg

If it were to be a brand new design surely they would use something like the NoTaR (No Tail Rotor) system as its probably quieter and cannot be damaged when flying close to obstructions like trees etc...

Wish we could see the actual chopper rather than it's remains, but anything intriguing is good enough for me!

[Piglet]

I can't believe no one here picked up on this yet?
Maybe cuz it was stealthy???

[Seagull V]

Time will eventually tell if it's a Black Ops special or a technology demonstrator, interesting bit of kit all the same. I remember back when a night-vision mod was being fitted to some equipment and everything was hush-hush.

Stealthy aircraft:-
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/s/stealth_plane_gifts.asp
http://www.thefunnybox.com/category/optical-illusions/page/2/ (Bottom photo)