Chuck Pfarrer's excellent book Seal Target Geronimo has been available for some time now and is a great read. The book covers a variety of topics from the background of terrorism in the Middle East to the inside details of Operation Neptune Spear, aka the Osama Bin Laden raid.
Chuck Pfarrer is a former DEVGRU member and claims to have inside information on Neptune Spear based on his association with those involved in the mission. There has been no small amount of controversy involving Mr. Pfarrer's version of the facts... the same which can be said of the "official" version of the raid provided by the Obama administration and various leakers throughout the government. Since my previous post on Stealth Helicopters garnered so much interest, I thought I'd comment on some of the aviation related content in the book with my best educated guess on "what really happened".
I would first like to state that I am not a Seal, nor a SOCOM guy of any stripe, just an old Army Aviator with some plain vanilla UH-60 time. This is why I restrict my comments to the aviation related items. Enough disclaimers, post continues...
Claim: (page 15) In June 2006, a SEAL sniper team laser designates a building near the northwest corner of Baghdad where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is hiding, guiding in a CIA controlled Predator Drone which fires a Hellfire missile, killing Zarqawi.
All previous versions of this story have USAF F-16s dropping laser guided bombs on the house containing Zarqawi. This does not mean that the SEALs were not there designating the target, the only thing is dispute is the weapon that was dropped. Also, the location of Zarqawi's safe house was reported to be in Baqubah... a long way from the northwest corner of Baghdad.
Whatever the truth is, few would disagree that the CIA controls Predators with Hellfire missiles, that the USAF drops laser guided bombs from F-16s, that SEAL sniper teams can certainly lay up in a hide site and designate targets, and that the death of Zarqawi saddens no one outside of his following in Iraq.
Claim: (page 153) the helicopters used in the Bin Laden raid were "Stealth Hawks", one of a silent and stealthy generation of modified UH-60s.
The tail section of the wrecked helicopter that was left at the objective appeared to be that of a modified UH-60. Task Force 160, which flies quite a few SOCOM missions, possesses the most highly modified and expensive UH-60s out there, and it is not much of a stretch to imagine that the newest aircraft they have are equipped with cutting edge classified technology.
Interestingly though, all sources seem to indicate that MH-47s were used to extract the task force. Whether they were backup aircraft or part of the original plan is anybody's guess, but apparently it didn't take a quiet and stealthy helicopter to get in and out of the objective, at least once the element of surprise was achieved. If the raid indeed lasted near 40 minutes, that would seem to indicate that extraction was delayed... I would hope that the raid was planned for a MUCH shorter time frame on the objective.
Claim: (page 173) With ADM McRaven watching, a "supersonic" RQ-170 UAV makes an afterburning takeoff into a vertical climb at a base in Afghanistan.
Real dramatic, but I'm thinking not. The RQ-170 I'm thinking of is powered by a GE TF34 engine that produces less than 10,000 pounds of thrust, and which also powers the S-3 Viking and the A-10 Thunderbolt, as well as a stable of civilian regional jets. All aircraft not known for their vertical climb capabilities, nor their afterburners, nor their supersonic performance. Being that they now own one, I guess we could ask the Iranians if they have any further info they could share with us?
Claim: (page 181) The assault plan called for the first helicopter, Razor 1, to drop assaulters on the roof of the main building.
This is where Pfarrer's version of events make far more sense than the "official" version of the events, wherein the helicopters dropped everyone on the ground and the assault teams cleared the building from the ground up. Assuming you can quickly drop or rope your people vertically onto the buildings, it would be a tactically bad idea to jump out of a helicopter and then fight your way from the bottom of the building up. Why do things the hard way if you don't have to? Why show up in a helicopter and then get out and run up the stairs?
Claim: (page 189) The tail rotors of the helicopters used in the raid are shrouded.
Nope. Not in the pictures of the wreckage.
Claim: (page 199) Razor 1 landed on the roof of the building and remained there during the raid, rotors turning.
Maybe... but as any infantryman will tell you, vehicles draw fire, and I'd rather be circling the target than presenting a great big stationary target smack on top of the objective. Apart from the obvious risk of setting down a many-ton helicopter on the roof of a building built in Pakistan...
Claim: (page 200) Razor 1 took off from the main building, rotating clockwise, and crashing into the compound due to the failure of a "green unit", a system that "controlled flight inputs and communications, and managed navigational problems".
This has got to be my favorite...
First off, there is no such component in the UH-60, at least in the basic version. If there is, I hope it was under warranty. It sounds like a real piece of junk. Although the UH-60 has historically experienced failures of supposedly redundant components (dual-engine rollback) the chances of a simultaneous catastrophic failure of two systems is, as Pfarrer puts it, "a million to one shot". The chances of there being a single pair of components on the aircraft that handle flight control, commo, and navigation is even less I would add.
So what took down Razor 1? If indeed the helicopter did spin clockwise and crash, that is indicative of either a loss of tail rotor effectiveness or a tail rotor malfunction of some kind. I would guess that the cause was much simpler, Razor 1 hit a wall with the tailboom or tail rotor during the initial insertion.
Much has been made of the reduced hover performance of the stealth modifications, "vortex ring state" and strange aerodynamic phenomenon known only to congressmen who describe air of different densities and temperatures being on two different sides of the compound walls which somehow steals lift from helicopters. But there are many tried and true ways to crash a helicopter and we don't need to make up any new ones.
Air assaults are hard. An air assault of this magnitude on this target is much harder. Many lives are on the line. Seconds count. Timing is vitally important. The aircraft hit the landing zone quickly and simultaneously, and everyone typically browns out. Bad things happen, no matter how many rehearsals take place. To see what this looks like in real time, look at this video of another special forces raid in Iraq. During a daylight operation, the third aircraft... smacks its tailboom into the wall.
But you know what? The operators drive on and the mission is accomplished anyway. Just like in Abbottabad.
H/T to David Cenciotti at The Aviationist for the best Stealth Blackhawk info on the net!
And a big salute to the men who pulled this off despite the odds.
