Ekomiami blog

• An MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down throughout a special-operations raid in Syria this month.
• The helicopter malfunctioned and needed to be destroyed as a result of it could not fly again after the raid.
• Malfunctions, crashes, and different mishaps are all the time a danger on such missions, and US aviators put together for these potentialities.

Final week, Delta Power carried out a counterterrorism operation in northwestern Syria that killed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the chief of ISIS.

The hours-long raid killed 13 folks, together with six youngsters and 4 girls. There have been no American casualties, however that nearly wasn’t the case.

Through the operation, an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter flown by the elite pilots of the 160th Particular Operations Aviation Regiment, nicknamed the “Evening Stalkers,” needed to land after struggling a malfunction. US forces then destroyed the chopper with an airstrike to forestall it from falling into the improper arms.

For the Evening Stalkers, the danger of a crash is omnipresent throughout these sorts of operations, however they’re ready for that risk.

Black Hawk Down

Evening Stalkers are all the time prepared ought to one thing go improper with their helicopters, however their response depends upon the severity of the issue, in accordance with Greg Coker, a retired chief warrant officer four and legendary Evening Stalker pilot.

“In the event you get a warning/warning mild, the pilot will conduct actions in accordance with the emergency process for that helo. If severe, the pilot will notify increased [command] and land if needed. It could be ‘let’s fly it and watch it,'” Coker mentioned. “If an engine fails then the pilot would transmit a Mayday name over the radio. Fight search and rescue can be launched, often a 160th asset.”

Different helicopters collaborating within the operation would land to choose up the downed helicopter’s crew and passengers so they might proceed the mission, Coker instructed Insider.

“The pilot in command will consider the helo emergency and decide to land or go to the goal. We push our machines to the restrict to finish the mission. The mission is all the time the precedence,” Coker added.

The operational atmosphere additionally dictates how the Evening Stalkers will react. If the emergency happens in a permissive atmosphere, the helicopter can be left behind to be picked up by the forces conducting fight search and rescue.

If it takes place over a semi- or non-permissive atmosphere, then the helicopter can be destroyed both with explosives or an airstrike, as was the case in Syria final week.

Ought to a helicopter go down, its pilots and crew chiefs are able to combat. Up to now, Evening Stalkers had been flippantly armed, carrying handguns and lightweight machine weapons, such because the MP-5. Now they carry the identical weapons as their counterparts on the bottom, and so they know methods to use them.

“All Evening Stalkers are extremely skilled in weapons and ways if discovered on the bottom. They’re all proficient shooters and regarded an asset by the bottom drive and never a legal responsibility. [That was] one of many classes discovered after Mogadishu,” Coker mentioned, referring to the 1993 mission in Somalia wherein two Evening Stalker helicopters had been shot down and their crews wounded or killed.

Coker, who flew the AH-6 Little Hen gunship for 11 deployments with the Evening Stalkers, is aware of what a crash appears like. In 2004, Iraqi insurgents shot down his helicopter, however Coker and his co-pilot survived and continued preventing, an expertise he wrote about in “Loss of life Waits within the Darkish: Six Weapons Do not Miss.”

“Clearly you can’t prepare the precise occasion, however we do a substantial quantity of planning and mission prep, considering by such contingencies and the way we’d reply,” a retired Delta Power operator who participated in a whole bunch of helicopter assault operations instructed Insider.

“Though it does not occur usually, it does occur greater than you may suppose. Helicopter mishaps are widespread downrange. When the adrenaline is dashing as you contact down shut or on the X in the course of the evening with mud in every single place from the helicopter rotors, it is easy to overlook that small berm or the additional foot of wall,” which might harm and even carry down the plane, the retired particular operator added.

Notable crashes

There have been three notable MH-60 Black Hawk crashes involving the particular mission items of the Joint Particular Operations Command, joint part of US Particular Operations Command.

The primary befell within the jungles of Panama throughout a coaching occasion in 1990. An MH-60 Black Hawk carrying 11 Delta Power operators crashed into the foliage, severely wounding all aboard.

The second, and most well-known, occurred in Mogadishu in 1993 throughout what’s referred to as throughout the Battle of Black Sea.

Two MH-60 Black Hawks collaborating in a raid had been shot down by Somali militia, beginning a day-long battle within the streets of the Somali capital that left 18 Delta Power operators, Rangers, Evening Stalkers, and common troops lifeless.

The “Black Hawk Down” incident has had an enduring legacy. In 2021, the US Military upgraded dozens of the medals given to troops concerned within the operation.

The third crash befell throughout the US Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011. A specifically modified stealth MH-60 Black Hawk struck one of many compound and crashed into the courtyard.

Nobody aboard was severely damage, however the helicopter needed to be destroyed on the scene. The tail rotor survived the demolition and pictures of it had been seen by the entire world the following morning.

“Helicopters are delicate beasts, and we’re very lucky to have the Evening Stalkers. These guys are actually the perfect helicopter pilots on the planet, and I might belief them with my life. It says one thing about their abilities that regardless of the risks we very not often have any casualties,” the retired Delta commando mentioned.

“Our helicopters are the perfect maintained plane on the planet. Severe upkeep points not often happen, however once they do the perfect air crews on the planet will determine it out and proceed mission,” Coker added. “You may substitute helicopters, however you may’t substitute Evening Stalkers.”

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a protection journalist specializing in particular operations, a Hellenic Military veteran (nationwide service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Military HQ), and a Johns Hopkins College graduate.