Black Hawk Down - for the last time: 160th's last Black Hawk MH-60K retires

Black Hawk Down: MH-60K retires from active duty

The sole operator of the MH-60K has retired the last of these secret rotor aircraft. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) was the only unit that operated the MH-60K:

From Warbirds: PRESS RELEASE – FORT PIERCE, Fla, US

 As the crowd gathered around the US National Navy Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) Museum Nov. 19, 2014, it became clear this wasn’t a standard military retirement.

There was no podium, no colors and no sound system. A small crowd gathered with their eyes fixed on the horizon.Then, a familiar sound became increasingly audible to the special operators in attendance. That sound was the rotors of two MH-60 Black Hawks, a MH-60K and a MH-60L, as they appeared over the shoreline, flying as a team one final time.

The MH-60K, tail number 388, made it’s long anticipated final flight from Fort Campbell, Ky. to the National SEAL Museum, where it will be demilitarized and put on display.“The relationship between the Army, the Navy and what we do has been in the shadow for a long time,” said Rick Kaiser, a retired Navy Seal Master Chief Petty Officer and Executive Director of the museum. “A lot of people will ask the same question – ‘Why do you have this Black Hawk in here?’ People always assume it’s Navy aircraft that fly the SEALs around. We will then be able to tell them the story about the relationship between the SEALs and the Army Special Operations Aviators.”

The process, which began almost a year prior, required careful coordination between several command elements, branches and offices across the Army; the unit who owned the aircraft – 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) (SOAR) (A), 160th SOAR (A) Operations Section, The United States Army Special Operations Aviation Command (Airborne) (USASOAC) (A) Aviation Readiness Branch, the USASAOC (A) Technology Applications and Program Office, the SEAL Museum, and the Army Tank and Automotive Command (TACOM) donations branch. All offices worked together to ensure all the necessary requirements were met in order to legally transfer the aircraft to the museum.

Sgt. 1st Class Joseph W. Evans, USASOAC (A) Aviation Readiness Branch Senior Maintenance Noncommissioned Officer in Charge, has been working the project since he arrived to the unit in March.“This is the first time I have had the opportunity to work an aircraft donation for the team,” said Evans. “Previously, I worked with the U.S. Army Center of Military History to divest aircraft [tail number] 288 to the U.S. Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker, Ala. There is a big difference between a divesture and an outright donation to a group not funded by the Federal Government.”

For the aircraft 388’s final flight, it only seemed fitting that Chief Warrant Officer 5 Ben D. Savage, 160th SOAR’s (A) Command Chief Warrant Officer, was in the cockpit. Savage has been training on the airframe since it arrived in the unit 20 years ago.“We started getting the MH-60K in 1994,” he said. “I was part of the train-the-trainer in Block Zero. Block Zero was to train all the instructor pilots in each of the following blocks. In April of ’94 I got qualified on the aircraft and started teaching block one in the fall.”

Savage, who had close to 4000 flight hours on the MH-60K airframe, said tail number 388 had a storied history during its lifetime.“This aircraft has been on multiple Joint Readiness Exercises leading up to 2001,” he explained. “It has also been in a “Class A” accident where it rolled over and was unable to fly for an extended period of time. In 2002, it made its first trip to Afghanistan and has flown multiple missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa since that time. During one of 388’s missions, the aircraft’s copilot had his microphone boom shot off his helmet and its pilot-in-command was shot in the face. They still managed to fly the aircraft out of the area after it had taken fire, so the aircraft has a significant history of battle damage as well.”

Task Force 160 of Fort Campbell, Kentucky — the Army's elite helo outfit — flies this heavily modified Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter. The pair used to carry Navy SEAL Team 6 to Osama bin Laden's Pakistan hideout in May 2011 had special stealthy modifications added to the choppers to make them quieter and less susceptible to radar detection. 

It also boasts terrain-following radar, a special defensive avionics suite to help it elude enemy detection, and blades mounted on the fuselage to slice through power lines that might bring down a standard chopper. A cover for the tail rotor — it's otherwise a flashing light for radar — as well as special fuselage trim and custom-crafted stabilators (the "rear wing" just underneath the tail rotor) suggested this was no stock MH-60K. That became crystal clear when photographs of one that had to be abandoned at bin Laden's compound began circling the globe. These Black Hawks can carry several different kinds of machine guns mounted at their side doors along with two crew chiefs to man those guns, a pair of pilots, and about a dozen troops.

The aircraft also participated in the mission that helped rescue American, Jessica Buchanan and her coworker, Poul Hagen Thisted. Both Buchanan and Hagen Thisted were captured by Somalian pirates and held hostage for three months in 2012. During the operation, SEAL team members parachuted into the objective and engaged the pirates, killing all of them. After the firefight, multiple aircraft evacuated the SEALs and the two hostages, including aircraft 388.“I’m going to put this on my list of things to do once this display gets set up,” Savage said. “We are leaving our checklists, which have our names in them, in the aircraft. So it’s an honor to know it’s going to be in the SEAL Museum. It’s quite fitting because of the number of SEALs we’ve carried around in this airframe.”



As for Evans, he said everyone’s hard work to get the aircraft donated to the museum pales in comparison to what the pilots, crew members and MH-60K have all given to the Special Operations community.“To me, the reward is knowing the 160th’s last MH-60K will be preserved and on display for many years to come,” he said. “This ensures the memory of those that have gone before us and what they accomplished on so many missions with the use of the MH-60K and more specifically, aircraft 388.”

Story Sgt. 1st Class Thaddius Dawkins

The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. The UH-60A entered service with the U.S. Army in 1979, to replace the Bell UH-1 Iroquois as the Army's tactical transport helicopter. This was followed by the fielding of electronic warfare and special operations variants of the Black Hawk. Improved UH-60L and UH-60M utility variants have also been developed.

Modified versions have also been developed for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. In addition to U.S. Army use, the UH-60 family has been exported to several nations. Black Hawks have served in combat during conflicts in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and other areas in the Middle East.

Upgrades and variations
After entering service, the helicopter was modified for new missions and roles, including mine laying and medical evacuation. An EH-60 variant was developed to conduct electronic warfare and special operations aviation developed the MH-60 variant to support its missions.

Due to weight increases from the addition of mission equipment and other changes, the Army ordered the improved UH-60L in 1987. The new model incorporated all of the modifications made to the UH-60A fleet as standard design features. The UH-60L also featured more power and lifting capability with upgraded T700-GE-701C engines and a stronger gearbox, both developed for the SH-60B Seahawk. Its external lift capacity increased by 1,000 lb (450 kg) up to 9,000 lb (4,100 kg). The UH-60L also incorporated the automatic flight control system (AFCS) from the SH-60 for better flight control due to handling issues with the more powerful engines. Production of the L-model began in 1989.

Development of the next improved variant, the UH-60M, was approved in 2001, to extend the service life of the UH-60 design into the 2020s. The UH-60M incorporates upgraded T700-GE-701D engines, improved rotor blades, and state of the art electronic instrumentation, flight controls and aircraft navigation control. After the U.S. DoD approved low-rate initial production of the new variant, manufacturing began in 2006, with the first of 22 new UH-60Ms delivered in July 2006.After an initial operational evaluation, the Army approved full-rate production and a five-year contract for 1,227 helicopters in December 2007. By March 2009, 100 UH-60M helicopters had been delivered to the Army. In November 2014, US military ordered 102 aircraft of various H-60 types, worth $1.3 billion.

Following an operation in May 2011, it emerged that the 160th SOAR used a secret version of the UH-60 modified with low-observable technology which enabled it to evade Pakistani radar. Analysis of the tail section, the only remaining part of the aircraft which crashed during the operation, revealed extra blades on the tail rotor and other noise reduction measures, making the craft much quieter than conventional UH-60s. The aircraft appeared to include features like special high-tech materials, harsh angles, and flat surfaces found only in stealth jets. Low observable versions of the Black Hawk have been studied as far back as the mid-1970s.

In September 2012, Sikorsky was awarded a Combat Tempered Platform Demonstration (CTPD) contract to further improve the Black Hawk's durability and survivability. The company is to develop new technologies such as a zero-vibration system, adaptive flight control laws, advanced fire management, a more durable main rotor, full-spectrum crashworthiness, and damage tolerant airframe; then they are to transition them to the helicopter. Improvements to the Black Hawk are to continue until the Future Vertical Lift program is ready to replace it

The UH-60 entered service with the U.S. Army's 101st Combat Aviation Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division in June 1979. The U.S. military first used the UH-60 in combat during the invasion of Grenada in 1983, and again in the invasion of Panama in 1989. During the Gulf War in 1991, the UH-60 participated in the largest air assault mission in U.S. Army history with over 300 helicopters involved. Two UH-60s (89-26214 and 78-23015) were shot down, both on 27 February 1991, while performing Combat Search and Rescue of other downed aircrews, an F-16C pilot and the crew of a MEDEVAC UH-1H that were shot down earlier that day.

In 1993, Black Hawks featured prominently in the assault on Mogadishu in Somalia. Black Hawks also saw action in the Balkans and Haiti in the 1990s. U.S. Army UH-60s and other helicopters conducted many air assault and other support missions during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The UH-60 has continued to serve in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine (OAM) uses the UH-60 in its operations specifically along the southwest border. The Black Hawk has been used by OAM to interdict illegal entry into the U.S. Additionally, OAM regularly uses the UH-60 in search and rescue operations.

Highly modified H-60s were employed during the U.S. Special Forces operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden on 1 May 2011. One such MH-60 helicopter crash-landed during the operation, and was destroyed by the team before it departed in the other MH-60 and a backup MH-47 Chinook with bin Laden's remains. Two MH-47s were used for the mission to refuel the two MH-60s and as backups. News media reported that the Pakistani government granted the Chinese military access to the wreckage of the crashed 'stealth' UH-60 variant in Abbotabad; Pakistan and China denied the reports, and the U.S. Government has not confirmed Chinese access.

Malaysia Airlines Tragedy Again: MH17 Boeig 777-200 shot down

Malaysian Airlines Jet shot down

An Air Malaysia Boeing 777-200 has been shot down by Cossacks of the Donyetsk separatist movement:

United States Vice President Joe Biden confirmed the plane was hit by missile, killing 295 people from several countries, including 27 from Australia.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said at least one New Zealand passport holder was aboard flight MH17.  "Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade are following up on indications that at least one New Zealand passport holder, and other passengers with New Zealand connections, may have been on board," McCully said. "The Ministry is working hard to confirm these details and make contact with the next of kin."

Malaysia Airlines confirmed in a press release it had received notification from Ukrainian air traffic control that it had lost contact with flight MH17 at GMT 2.15pm (NZT 2.15am) at 30km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.

Flight MH17 operated on a Boeing 777 departed Amsterdam Thursday at 12.15pm (NZT 10.15pm) and was estimated to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Friday at 6.10am Malaysia time (NZT 10.10am).

Malaysian 777-200 at Naruto, Tokyo

It has emerged that a surface-to-air missile was detected by US intelligence agencies, but the Wall Street Journal reported officals were divided over whether it came from Russia or eastern Ukraine. Biden confirmed the missile attack while he was at a conference in Detroit and Malaysian officials have reported the plane made no distress call. The UN Security Council would today hold an emergency meeting to discuss Ukraine.

The news of confirmation came a short time after Ukraine's state security chief accused Russian military officers of being involved in shooting down Malaysia Airlines MH17, which happened about 3am (NZT).

The disaster comes only four months after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished on March 8 when flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard.

Ukraine media have now reported the content of a phone call between members of militant groups, intercepted by Ukraine's security agency. (Transcript below)

The phone call was made 20 minutes after the plane crash, the Kyiv Post reported, by Igor Bezler, military commander of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic. He was said to be reporting to a Russian army colonel in their intelligence department. In a transcript of the conversation Bezler said: "We have just shot down a plane." Russian-backed Cossack militants have allegedly claimed responsibility for shooting down Malaysia Airlines MH17.

Ukraine media have reported the content of a phone call between members of militant groups, intercepted by Ukraine's security agency. The call was made 20 minutes after the plane crash by Igor Bezler, military commander of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, the Kyiv Post reported. He was said to be reporting to a Russian army colonel in their intelligence department.

In a transcript of the conversation Bezler said: "We have just shot down a plane". In another conversation between two militants identified as "Major" and "Greek", they were heard discussing what they found at the crash site, discovering it was a civilian aircraft:

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Igor Bezler: We have just shot down a plane. Group Minera. It fell down beyond Yenakievo.

Vasili Geranin: Pilots. Where are the pilots?

IB: Gone to search for and photograph the plane. Its smoking.

VG: How many minutes ago?

IB: About 30 minutes ago.

SBU (Ukraine Intelligence) comment: After examining the site of the plane the terrorists come to the conclusion that they have shot down a civilian plane. The next part of the conversation took place about 40 minutes later.

Major: These are Chernukhin folks show down the plane. From the Chernukhin check point. Those cossacks who are based in Chernukhino.

Greek: Yes, Major.

Major: The plane fell apart in the air. In the area of Petropavlovskaya mine. The first "200" (code word for dead person). We have found the first "200". A Civilian.

Greek: Well, what do you have there?

Major: In short, it was 100 percent a passenger (civilian) aircraft.

Greek: Are many people there?

Major: Holy sh**t! The debris fell right into the yards (of homes).

Greek: What kind of aircraft?

Major: I haven't ascertained this. I haven't been to the main site. I am only surveying the scene where the first bodies fell. There are the remains of internal brackets, seats and bodies.

Greek: Is there anything left of the weapon?

Major: Absolutely nothing. Civilian items, medicinal stuff, towels, toilet paper.

Greek: Are there documents?

Major: Yes, of one Indonesian student. From a university in Thompson. 

- via Sydney Morning Herald/Kyiv Post

1:52: About that plane shot down near Snezhnovo Torez. It turned out to be a passenger plane. Fell near Grabovo, there's lots of bodies, women and children. Right now the cossacks are inspecting it.
2:03: On TV they are saying AN-26, Ukrainian transport, but are saying it's labeled Malaysian Airlines.
2:12: What was it doing in Ukrainian territory?
2:16: Maybe it was transporting spies. Who knows. It's war.

Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 metres (33,000 feet) over the eastern Ukraine when it crashed. He also said it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, which could fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 metres (72,000 feet).

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said Air New Zealand did not operate over Eastern Europe.
Dutch authorities said that, along with the 27 Australians, there were also 143 Dutch on board.
Other passengers included 20 Malaysians, 11 Indonesians, six from the UK, four each from France and Germany and one from Canada. Some of the passengers were on their way to New Zealand, Dutch media reported.

MH17 was also a very popular route with oil and gas workers coming to South East Asia from the UK.
Ukrainian armed forces were not involved in the plane being brought down, the Ukrainian presidential press service said. Interfax quoted it as saying that President Petro Poroshenko had described the incident an act of "terrorism".
"We stress that the armed forces of Ukraine did not carry out any action to destroy targets in the air."

Pro-Russian separatists have said they were willing to have up to three days of ceasefire in eastern Ukraine to allow for recovery work at the site of the downed airliner, RIA news agency reported. However, the head of Ukrainian Emergency Situations said search efforts at scene were being hampered by "armed terrorists".

BODIES SCATTERED

An emergency services rescue worker confirmed 100 bodies had so far been found at the scene, near the village of Grabovo, and that debris from the wreckage was spread across an area up to about 15km in diameter.

''I was working in the field on my tractor when I heard the sound of a plane and then a bang and shots. Then I saw the plane hit the ground and break in two. There was thick black smoke,'' said a witness, who gave his name only as Vladimir.

A separatist rebel from nearby Krasnyi Luch who gave his name only as Sergei said: ''From my balcony I saw a plane begin to descend from a great height and then heard two explosions.''

Ukraine's Espreso TV reported that pro-Russian militants had recently received anti-aircraft weapons capable of shooting down planes at high altitudes.

The 'Buk' anti-aircraft missile system, manufactured in Russia, can hit aircraft up to an altitude of 25km. A launcher similar to the Buk missile system was seen by Associated Press journalists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne, which is held by pro-Russia rebels yesterday.

BUK, also known as SAM-17 Grizzly, or SAM-11 Gadfly is a mobile anti-aircraft system mounted usually on a tracked vehicle or truck that can simultaneously track and strike up to six targets flying from different directions and at different altitudes..

BUK/SA-11 (Gadfly) Missle system

On June 29, the Itar-Tass news agency reported that Donetsk People's Republic separatists had taken control of a missile defence unit equipped with Buk missile systems. (Clicky to Aus Airpower info)

However a spokesman for the Donetsk rebels denied any involvement. "The plane was shot down by the Ukrainian side," the spokesman told Interfax. "We simply do not have such air defence systems."

He said the plane was well beyond the range of any of their weapons, which can only go as high as 3000m. He also expressed his condolences to the bereaved families.

However the capture of such weapons was reported on a Russian News site: Donetsk militia captured military defense part A-1402. Point defense is a division of Missile Forces and equipped with self-propelled anti-aircraft missile systems "Buk". This is the second division of the Air Force, which passed under the control of militias in recent days. One part surrendered voluntarily, for the second conducted many hours of fighting, RIA "Novosti".

The Wall Street Journal reported an earlier missle strike (above) on a Ukrainian Transport:

MOSCOW—Pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane early Saturday, killing all 49 people on board, in the deadliest episode of months of unrest in eastern Ukraine.

The Il-76 plane was downed near the government-controlled airport in Luhansk, a region largely in the grasp of the separatists, after coming under fire from heavy machine guns and shoulder-launched missiles, said Ukraine's Defense Ministry.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general's office said the 40 military personnel and the nine crew members on board were all killed.

The incident, the second such shooting down of a plane this month, demonstrates how far the nascent government in Kiev is from its target of restoring security in the regions bordering Russia. Luhansk has been the center of significant unrest in recent months, and a month ago separatists declared independence in the region, as well as in Donetsk.

It came less than a day after the U.S. said it had confirmed the rebels had acquired tank and missile launchers from Russia and as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization released images it said supported allegations that Russian tanks had entered Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has consistently denied charges that the country has provided weapons and troops to the rebels in Donetsk and Luhansk.

In the wake of the attack, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on the European Union to immediately introduce sectoral sanctions against Russia.

More info: According to an online flight tracking site, the plane's last known position was near Donetsk at an altitude of just over 10 km. A Dutch man, Cor Pan,  is feared missing by his Facebook friends, after posting a joke as he boarded a plane in Amsterdam saying "if the plane disappears, this is what it looks like". Cor also posted a photo of what is believed to be the Malaysia Airlines plane later reportedly shot down over Ukraine.

Friends initially laughed along with the reference to missing Malaysia flight MH370, wishing him and his partner happy holidays. However their comments later turned to shock and disbelief. One wrote "rest in peace dear Cor and (his partner) Neeltje, and we wish strength to your family - what a nightmare this is."
Fairfax could not independently verify whether the post was genuine. According to his Facebook page, Cor Pan was self-employed and lived in Volendam in the Netherlands.

Internet sleuths claim to have some photos of the offending SA-11:
Photos of Donetsk Missile Unit (Unproven); including a picture of a BUK Missle system leaving the area.

The prime suspect goes by the name Strelkov - or "shooter". Real name Igor Girkin, the former Russian intelligence officer has shot his own troops for insubordination. He may have just shot down a passenger plane with 298 people on board, or ordered it.

"We did warn you - do not fly in our sky," he reportedly posted to a Russian social media page just hours ago. This chilling message was most probably aimed at the Ukraine government, Girkin's target in a vicious separatist war.

But that post has now been deleted as it has become clear the jet was from Malaysia Airlines, not a military transport aircraft of the type Girkin has brought down in recent weeks.

The so-called "defence minister" of the Donetsk People's Republic first announced: "We just downed an An-26 near (the town of) Torez, and here is a video confirming that a 'bird fell'," said the post.

The video shows locals referring to the same coal mine in the region mentioned by Strelkov.

Russia's state media avoided any mention of the controversial posts and instead reported militia leaders' later claims that the Ukrainian air force had shot down the Boeing 777 instead.

Confirmation of separatist fighters killing the 298 people on board the plane from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur would further complicate Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to paint their uprising as a fight for self-determination.

The comments attributed to Girkin did not identify what missile was used to down the craft. But a message on the official Twitter account of the Donetsk People's Republic had announced hours earlier that insurgents had seized a series of Russian-made Buk systems capable of soaring to that height.

"dnrpress: self-propelled Buk surface-to-air missile systems have been seized by the DNR from (Ukrainian) surface-to-air missile regiment A1402," said the post. (link above) That tweet was later deleted as well.

No amateur can bring down a passenger jet streaking across the sky. A trained operator is needed to work the sophisticated surface-to-air missiles needed. Don't be lulled into believing any trooper with a rocket propelled grenade launcher on his shoulder could carry out this attack. The professionalism required alone makes Girkin and his Russian-backed separatists as the most likely suspects.

They have captured missile batteries mounted on trucks, and are suspected to have been supplied Russian-made "needle" portable launchers that can be carried by a man.

But it was far from clear whether Moscow condoned this atrocity.

The conflict in Ukraine has boiled for months since Russian commandos in Februrary seized control of the Crimean peninsula.