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Chinese Stealth Fighter Could Rival US's Best: Report

The next generation stealth fighter under development by the Chinese military could rival America's best fighters in speed, stealth and lethality, according to a new private report.

Details on the Chinese J-20 fighter are scant as the project has been developed under extreme secrecy, but an analysis conducted by the conservative Washington D.C.-based defense policy think tank The Jamestown Foundation based on the little publicly available information concluded that the fighter "will be a high performance stealth aircraft, arguably capable of competing in most cardinal performance parameters... with the United States F-22A Raptor, and superior in most if not all cardinal performance parameters against the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter."

The F-22 Raptor, which cost the U.S. government $77 billion for 187 planes from defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin, has never seen combat in any of America's three simultaneous major combat operations, but is considered by the Air Force and Lockheed Martin to be a stealth fighter without match.

The slightly cheaper F-35, an all purpose stealth fighter being developed by Lockheed Martin for the Air Force, Navy and Marines, is not meant to focus on air-to-air combat like the F-22, but on air-to-ground attacks and is expected to work in tandem with the F-22.

The Jamestown Foundation report, written by defense analyst and F-22 proponent Carlo Kopp, was first published last week just days after America's entire fleet of F-22s was grounded due to oxygen system concerns and a new video surfaced online, purportedly showing a rare test flight by a prototype J-20.

The report noted the Chinese planes would not have the range to make unsupported strikes against the continental U.S., but U.S. military bases and allies in the region are well within the potential target zone -- including air bases that have been home to the F-22 fighters. However, the Air Force said currently there are no F-22s deployed overseas. The report also says that due to its larger size, the J-20 could potentially carry more or bigger payloads than the F-22.

Though the Defense Department declined to comment on the Jamestown Foundation report, in response to the J-20 video, a Pentagon spokesperson told ABC News last week the U.S. has been "carefully monitoring China's comprehensive and sustained military modernization and its implications for the region."

But as early as January, shortly after a test flight of what appeared to be the J-20, Department of Defense Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters, "We don't know, frankly, much about the capabilities of that plane" and urged observers to "slow down a little bit on our characterizations of the J-20 at this point."

China is still in the development stage for its fighter, whereas once the oxygen system issues are sorted out, the U.S. Air Force will return to having more than 160 operational F-22s. The last of the 187 planes are still being delivered by Lockheed Martin.

Defense Department: China's Stealth Fighter 'Not Surprising'

As more information has surfaced about the secretive J-20, the Defense Department spokesperson would only say the Pentagon has not been taken by surprise.

"The fact that China has developed a prototype for this program is not surprising and is consistent with the direction we have seen China's military taking over a number of years," the spokesperson said.

According to Lockheed Martin, which is still receiving hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to upgrade current F-22s, the J-20 "shows that other nations are seeking to develop the capability to challenge the F-22, and by extension, our capacity to attain air superiority in future conflict.

"Such emerging threats illustrate the need to continue enhancing the F-22's capabilities so that it stays ahead of evolving threats," a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said.

Both the Air Force and Lockheed Martin said the reason the $143 million-a-pop F-22s have yet to fire on any enemies -- despite U.S. involvement in air operations in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan -- is because they're designed specifically to dominate the air against rival sophisticated air weapons like the J-20, not small, poorly armed third-world militaries and insurgent groups.

The planes' natural enemy, therefore, is one that the program's biggest critic, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in 2009 did not exist.

"The F-22 is clearly a capability we do need -- a niche, silver-bullet solution for one or two potential scenarios -- specifically the defeat of a highly advanced enemy fighter fleet," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in 2009 while advocating that Congress ditch further funding for the Raptor from the budget. "[But] the F-22, to be blunt, does not make much sense anyplace else in the spectrum of conflict."

Before the decision was made to cut the F-22 program at 187 planes -- rather than the more than 600 that were originally part of the deal -- dozens of supporters in Congress and state governments sent letters to President Obama arguing that the full force of the F-22s would be needed to counter the next generations planes being developed by China and Russia. Gates dismissed the idea, saying the F-22s and newer F-35s would greatly outnumber any adversaries' forces for the next 15 years at least.

Osama Bin Laden Raid: Pakistan Hints China Wants a Peek at Secret Helicopter

Pakistani officials said today they're interested in studying the remains of the U.S.'s secret stealth-modified helicopter abandoned during the Navy SEAL raid of Osama bin Laden's compound, and suggested the Chinese are as well.

The U.S. has already asked the Pakistanis for the helicopter wreckage back, but one Pakistani official told ABC News the Chinese were also "very interested" in seeing the remains. Another official said, "We might let them [the Chinese] take a look."

A U.S. official said he did not know if the Pakistanis had offered a peek to the Chinese, but said he would be "shocked" if the Chinese hadn't already been given access to the damaged aircraft.

The chopper, which aviation experts believe to be a highly classified modified version of a Blackhawk helicopter, clipped a wall during the operation that took down the al Qaeda leader, the White House said. The U.S. Navy SEALs that rode in on the bird attempted to destroy it after abandoning it on the ground, but a significant portion of the tail section survived the explosion. In the days after the raid, the tail section and other pieces of debris -- including a mysterious cloth-like covering that the local children found entertaining to play with -- were photographed being hauled away from the crash site by tractor.

Aviation experts said the unusual configuration of the rear rotor, the curious hub-cap like housing around it and the general shape of the bird are all clues the helicopter was highly modified to not only be quiet, but to have as small a radar signature as possible.

The helicopter's remains have apparently become another chip in a tense, high-stakes game of diplomacy between the U.S. and Pakistan following the U.S.'s unilateral military raid of bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, more than a week ago. The potential technological advancements gleaned from the bird could be a "much appreciated gift" to the Chinese, according to former White House counterterrorism advisor and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke.

"Because Pakistan gets access to Chinese missile technology and other advanced systems, Islamabad is always looking for ways to give China something in return," Clarke said.

The Chinese and Pakistani governments are known to have a close relationship. Last month Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif concluded a trip to Beijing, afterwards telling Pakistan's local press that China was Pakistan's "best friend."

Dan Goure, a former Department of Defense official and vice president of the Lexington Institute, said last week the stealth chopper likely provided the SEALs an invaluable advantage in the moments before the shooting started.

"This is a first," he said. "You wouldn't know that it was coming right at you. And that's what's important, because these are coming in fast and low, and if they aren't sounding like they're coming right at you, you might not even react until it's too late... That was clearly part of the success."

Neighbors of bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, told ABC News they didn't hear the helicopters the night of the raid until they were overhead.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Defense declined to comment for this report, and a senior Pentagon official told ABC News last week the Department would "absolutely not" discuss anything relating to the downed chopper. Several Chinese government officials in the U.S. and in China were not available for comment.

U.S. officials have not officially disclosed any details on the helicopter, but President Obama said it was a "$60 million helicopter," in a report by The Washington Post. While the price tag on normal Blackhawks varies depending the type, none cost more than $20 million according to the latest Department of Defense procurement report.

China's Murky History With U.S. Stealth Technology

If the Chinese are allowed to see the wreckage, it may not be the first time the Chinese military was given an opportunity to benefit technologically from America's misfortune. In 1999 an American stealth F-117 Nighthawk bomber was shot down in Serbia, the wreckage of which was reportedly passed along to the Chinese.

More than a decade later, in January of this year, China's first stealth fighter, the J-20, took a test flight that caught international attention and sparked a debate over whether China had developed the stealth-capabilities based on what they learned from the downed Nighthawk. Balkan military officials told The Associated Press the Chinese likely based their designs on the American plane, but Chinese officials denied the allegation in their state-run newspaper, The Global Times.

Regardless of its origins, the J-20 could serve as the first major challenge to American air superiority in decades. In an analysis published last week, the conservative think tank The Jamestown Foundation concluded the J-20 was capable of rivaling America's best air-to-air fighter, the F-22, in everything from speed to stealth and lethality.

Chemtrails are real – silver iodide cloud seeding to induce rainfall

US Air Force drops Chemtrails on the US

There is plenty of evidence available that proves the existence of weather modification using cloud seeding. Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, changes the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud. The intent is to increase precipitation (rain or snow) over a area.

Cloud seeding involves spraying silver iodide and other toxic and carcinogenic (causing cancer or contributing to the causation of cancer) chemicals into clouds to induce rainfall. The spraying of this silver iodide is what we see on the ground as chemtrails.

The US government has for years stated that what we are seeing are contrails (vapor trails of condensed water vapor made by the exhaust of aircraft engines), not chemtrails.

The accompanying article photo and video exposes their lie. In the photo we can clearly see that the vapor trail isn’t coming from any of the 4 US Air Force (Air Force roundel shown on right wing) jet engine. The chemtrails are coming from the fuselage of the military jet.

Silver iodide (AgI) is a yellow, inorganic, photosensitive iodide of silver used in photography, in medicine as an antiseptic, and in rainmaking for cloud seeding. The crystalline structure of AgI is similar to that of ice, allowing it to induce freezing in cloud seeding for the purpose of rainmaking. Approximately 50,000 kg/year are used for this purpose.

Under the guidelines of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Clean Water Act, silver iodide is considered a hazardous substance, a priority pollutant, and a toxic pollutant.

A key manufacturer of silver iodide for weather modification, Deepwater Chemicals, warns of potential health effects of silver iodide in their Material Safety Data Sheet as follows: Chronic ingestion of iodides may produce “iodism”, which may be manifested by skin rash, running nose, headache, irritation of the mucous membranes, weakness, anemia, loss of weight and general depression.

Chronic inhalation, ingestion or skin contact with silver compounds may cause argyria characterized by blue-gray discoloration of the eyes, skin and mucous membranes.

So what is the big deal with cloud seeding and chemtrails? Isn’t the ability to make rain good for mankind? If used for political objectives cloud seeding (chemtrails) can be used to create floods (heavy rainfall), hurricanes, thunderstorms (accompanies rainfall), monsoons and other destructive weather occurrences. Chemtrails can cause death and destruction when man-made floods, thunderstorms, and other severe weather occurs from Cloud Seeding.

The first recorded proof of a military application of cloud seeding occurred on Oct 13 1947, when the U.S. Military (as part of Project Cirrus involving General Electric) dropped 80 kg of dry ice into a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean, safely off the eastern coast of the USA. The hurricane changed direction and traveled inland, where it did extensive damage to property in Georgia. The U.S. military classified the data from the seeding of this hurricane to avoid litigation.

Whenever and wherever cloud seeding operations are active any person affected by its effects, whether intentional or unintentional, can sue the cloud seeders for damages to property, crops and even health. The people who authorize the cloud seeding of any area knows that there are risks in cloud seeding.

They (state governments who license and regulate commercial weather modification) know that the chemicals used are hazardous substances, priority pollutants, and a toxic pollutants. This makes them liable for any damages.

Short URL: http://presscore.ca/2011/?p=2541

Seas could rise up to 1.6 meters by 2100

A report issued by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) says global sea levels could rise by up to 1.6 meters by the year 2100.

Aggravated by a thaw of Greenland's ice, the rise will threaten many coastal areas from Bangladesh to Florida, as well as low-lying Pacific islands and cities such as London and Shanghai, Reuters reported.

According to the Oslo-based program, "the past six years (until 2010) have been the warmest period ever recorded in the Arctic."

Backed by the eight-nation Arctic Council, the program warns that "in the future, global sea level is projected to rise by 0.9 meters to 1.6 meters by 2100 and the loss of ice from Arctic glaciers, ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet will make a substantial contribution".

"Arctic glaciers, ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet contributed over 40 percent of the global sea level rise of around 3 mm per year observed between 2003 and 2008," it said.

While climate change in the Arctic is happening at about twice the world average, foreign ministers of the Arctic Council nations -- the United States, Russia, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland - are set to meet in Greenland on May 12, 2011.

The last major report released by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007 said that global sea levels were likely to rise by between 18 and 59 cm by 2100, but it did not consider a possible acceleration of a thaw in polar regions.

"It is worrying that the most recent science points to much higher sea level rise than we have been expecting until now," European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard told Reuters.

"The study is yet another reminder of how pressing it has become to tackle climate change, although this urgency is not always evident neither in the public debate nor from the pace in the international negotiations," she said.

The United Nations talks on fighting climate change are proceeding in a very low pace and the UN says promises made to limit greenhouse gas emissions are not enough to curb global warming.

The AMAP study shows that warming is accelerating and the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice free in summers within 30 to 40 years.

"There is evidence that two components of the Arctic cryosphere -- snow and sea ice -- are interacting with the climate system to accelerate warming," the study said.

TE/MB

Stealth helicopters kept under wraps until bin Laden raid

BLACK HAWK: Aftermath of crash exposes some secrets.

By ROBERT BURNS

The Associated Press

Secret until now, stealth helicopters may have been key to the success of the Osama bin Laden raid. But the so-far-unexplained crash of one of the modified Black Hawks at the scene apparently compromised at least some of the aircraft's secrets.

The two choppers evidently used radar-evading technologies, plus noise and heat suppression devices, to slip across the Afghan-Pakistan border, avoid detection by Pakistani air defenses and deliver two dozen Navy SEALs into the al-Qaida leader's lair. Photos of the lost chopper's wrecked tail are circulating online -- proving it exists and also exposing sensitive details.

The reason one of the helicopters crash-landed at the bin Laden compound has not been disclosed, but Daniel Goure, a defense specialist at the Lexington Institute think tank, said Friday it might be explained by the unusual aerodynamics resulting from the aircraft's modifications.

"It could be much more difficult to fly, particularly at slow speed and landing, than you would expect from a typical Black Hawk," Goure said.

The U.S. military's first stealth aircraft, the now-defunct F-117 fighter jet, was notoriously difficult to handle in flight, officials have said.

FAST ROPING

The elite Army pilots who flew the daring mission are members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, nicknamed the Night Stalkers. Night Stalker pilots also fly other, publicly acknowledged versions of the Black Hawk that are specially equipped with advanced navigation systems, plus devices allowing for low-level and all-weather flight, day or night. Those are rigged to permit occupants to "fast rope" from the helicopter as it hovers just off the ground -- a technique used in the bin Laden assault.

Also taking part in the bin Laden mission were two MH-47 Chinooks, specially modified versions of the heavy-lift Chinook helicopters that are widely used by the Army.

The MH-47s are flown by the 160th. Those aircraft are not known to have stealth capabilities, although one was summoned to the scene of the raid after one of the stealthy Black Hawks crash-landed, to help ferry the SEAL contingent out of Pakistan.

Many aspects of stealth technology have been known for decades, including the use of angled aircraft edges and composite materials to make aircraft less visible on radar. The Army began a program to build a new class of helicopter with stealth technology in 1992. Known as the RAH-66 Comanche, it was canceled in 2004, in part to speed up development of drone aircraft.

Bill Sweetman, editor in chief of Defense Technology International and a longtime student of stealth aircraft development, said the biggest secret behind the stealth helicopter is simply that it existed.

"There was obviously a fairly high risk that you were going to compromise it one way or another the minute you used it," he said in an Associated Press interview.

A HIGH-STAKES GAMBLE

The decision to use the helicopters reflected the extraordinary stakes involved in eliminating bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist. It is not known whether the choppers have been used in earlier Special Operations raids, but Dick Hoffman, a former Navy SEAL and now a defense analyst at the Rand Corp. think tank, said he had never before heard of their existence.

Hoffman said in a telephone interview that the apparent stealth technology on the choppers boosted the raid's chances for success.

"Getting into the target area undetected is hugely important, especially with these terrorist targets and militia targets," he said. He noted that the SEAL team did not arrive at the Abbottabad compound in complete silence, since a resident in the same town was writing on Twitter during the raid that he could hear one or more helicopters and wondered what was happening.

But the modifications that suppressed noise from the helicopters -- including the use of extra blades in the tail rotor and placement of a hubcap-like cover on the rotor -- may have been sufficient to allow the assault teams to get on the ground before bin Laden and his security guards could mount enough of a defense to slow the SEALS; only one of the defenders was said to have gotten off a shot.

KEEP IT QUIET

Noise suppression, Goure said, is "a huge advantage in these kinds of strikes."

Some elements of that suppression technology were visible in photos of the tail section that was left behind. The main body of the copter was blown up by the SEALs before they left with bin Laden's corpse, apparently in order to prevent the exposure of other secret stealth components.

A Pentagon spokesman, Marine Col. David Lapan, declined to say Friday whether Pakistan was resisting U.S. efforts to retrieve the remains of the chopper.

Sweetman said it was remarkable that the SEALs managed to swoop into the compound and catch the bin Laden party by surprise.

"They're probably expecting that someday they could get a visit from (U.S.) Special Forces," he said. "But they would also be expecting to hear helicopters for a few minutes before they arrive overhead. If your first warning is that you hear the thing and then you look up and it's right there, you've lost valuable time."

The Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche was an advanced U.S. Army military helicopter intended for the armed reconnaissance role, incorporating stealth technologies. It was also intended to designate targets for the AH-64 Apache. The RAH-66 program was canceled in 2004 before it was fielded.

The RAH-66 is powered by two LHTEC T800 turboshaft engines. The RAH-66’s fuselage is 43 feet (13 m) long and is made of composite material. It incorporated stealth features to avoid detection, such as retractable weapon stations and main gun, and stealth faceting and radar absorbent materials. The Comanche’s noise signature is noticeably smaller than others in its class. The U.S. Army’s current armed scout helicopter is the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, but it is an upgraded version of a Vietnam War-era observation helicopter. The Comanche however was specifically tailored to the role of armed scout. It is smaller and lighter than the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.

The Comanche’s very sophisticated detection and navigation systems were intended to allow it to operate at night and in bad weather. Its airframe was designed to fit more easily than the Apache into transport aircraft or onto transport ships, enabling it to be deployed to hot spots quickly. If transport assets were not available, the Comanche’s ferry range of 1,260 nautical miles (2,330 km; 1,450 mi) would allow it to fly to battlefields overseas on its own.

Top Secret US Stealth Helikopter Down Revealed

One of the most impressive things about Sunday's raid in Pakistan, was the way the Navy Seals managed to penetrate deep into Pakistan without being caught by Pakistani air defenses. Now it looks like a super secret stealth helicopter may be behind this embarrassing security lapse.

The helicopter crashed during landing, and while the team took measures to destroy it before leaving, they missed the tail rotor section which had broken off and fallen outside the compound wall.

On Monday local children were seen picking up pieces of the silver loaded infrared suppression covering used on the tail rotor surfaces, before Pakistani authorities came and trucked away the remaining bits. Now there is concern that the highly classified materials are on their way to Pakistan's friends in China.

Secret until now, stealth helicopters may have been key to the success of the Osama bin Laden raid. But the so-far-unexplained crash of one of the modified Black Hawks at the scene apparently compromised at least some of the aircraft's secrets.

The assault team that killed Osama bin Laden sneaked up on his compound in radar-evading helicopters that had never been discussed publicly by the US government, aviation analysts said.

The commandos blew up one of the helicopters after it was damaged in a hard landing, but news photographs of the surviving tail section reveal modifications to muffle noise and reduce the chances of detection by radar. The stealth features, similar to those used on advanced fighter jets and bombers, help explain how two of the helicopters sped undetected through Pakistani air defences before reaching the bin Laden compound in Abbottabad.

The two choppers evidently used radar-evading technologies, plus noise and heat suppression devices, to slip across the Afghan-Pakistan border, avoid detection by Pakistani air defenses and deliver two dozen Navy SEALs into the al-Qaida leader's lair. Photos of the lost chopper's wrecked tail are circulating online — proving it exists and also exposing sensitive details.

President Barack Obama traveled Friday to Fort Campbell, Ky., and met privately with the elite Army pilots who flew the daring mission. They are members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, nicknamed the Night Stalkers, and he saluted them in public remarks afterward.

The reason one of the helicopters crash landed at the bin Laden compound has not been disclosed, but Daniel Goure, a defense specialist at the Lexington Institute think tank, said Friday it might be explained by the unusual aerodynamics resulting from the aircraft's modifications.

"It could be much more difficult to fly, particularly at slow speed and landing than you would expect from a typical Black Hawk," Goure said.

The U.S. military's first stealth aircraft, the now-defunct F-117 fighter jet, was notoriously difficult to handle in flight, officials have said.

Night Stalker pilots also fly other, publicly acknowledged versions of the Black Hawk that are specially equipped with advanced navigation systems, plus devices allowing for low-level and all-weather flight, day or night. Those are rigged to permit occupants to "fast rope" from the helicopter as it hovers just off the ground — a technique used in the bin Laden assault.

Also taking part in the bin Laden mission were two MH-47 Chinooks, specially modified versions of the heavy-lift Chinook helicoptersthat are widely used by the Army's conventional forces.

The MH-47s are flown by the 160th, the Night Stalkers. Those aircraft are not known to have stealth capabilities, although one was summoned to the scene of the raid after one of the stealthy Black Hawks crash-landed, in order to help ferry the SEAL contingent out of Pakistan.

Many aspects of stealth technology have been known for decades, including the use of angled aircraft edges and composite materials to make aircraft less visible on radar. The Army began a program to build a new class of helicopter with stealth technology in 1992. Known as the RAH-66 Comanche, it was canceled in 2004, in part to speed up development of drone aircraft.

Bill Sweetman, editor-in-chief of Defense Technology International and a long-time student of stealth aircraft development, said the biggest secret behind the stealth helicopter is simply that it existed.

"There was obviously a fairly high risk that you were going to compromise it one way or another the minute you used it," he said in an Associated Press interview.

The decision to use the helicopters reflected the extraordinary stakes involved in eliminating bin Laden, the world's most-wanted terrorist. It is not known whether the choppers have been used in earlier Special Operations raids, but Dick Hoffman, a former Navy SEAL and now a defense analyst at the Rand Corp. think tank, said he had never before heard of their existence.

Hoffman said in a telephone interview that the apparent stealth technology on the choppers boosted the raid's chances for success.

"Getting into the target area undetected is hugely important, especially with these terrorist targets and militia targets," he said. He noted that the SEAL team did not arrive at the Abbottabad compound in complete silence, since a resident in the same town was writing on Twitter during the raid that he could hear one or more helicopters and wondered what was happening.

But the modifications that suppressed noise from the helicopters — including the use of extra blades in the tail rotor and placement of a hubcap-like cover on the rotor — may have been sufficient to allow the assault teams to get on the ground before bin Laden and his security guards could mount enough of a defense to slow the SEALS; only one of the defenders was said to have gotten off a shot.

Noise suppression, Goure said, is "a huge advantage in these kinds of strikes."

Some elements of that noise suppression technology were visible in photos of the tail section that was left behind. The main body of the helo was blown up by the SEALs before they left with bin Laden's body, apparently in order to prevent the exposure of other secret stealth components.

A Pentagon spokesman, Marine Col. David Lapan, declined to say Friday whether Pakistan was resisting U.S. efforts to retrieve the remains of the chopper.

Sweetman said it was remarkable that the SEALs managed to swoop into the compound and catch the bin Laden party by surprise.

"They're probably expecting that someday they could get a visit from (U.S.) Special Forces," he said. "But they would also be expecting to hear helicopters for a few minutes before they arrive overhead. If your first warning is that you hear the thing and then you look up and it's right there, you've lost valuable time."

Raid stealth chopper secrets may reach China

There are concerns that the secrets of the stealth helicopter used by US commandos to storm Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's Pakistan hideout may reach China, a media report said here.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the US Navy SEALs had used a previously unseen stealth helicopter for the daring mission in Pakistan's Abbottabad city so that they could evade Pakistani radar and not be heard while reaching the Al Qaeda leader's sprawling mansion.

After a snag developed in the chopper, the commandos lobbed thermite grenades to destroy its main body. The rear section was, however, left intact and it was carted away by the Pakistani military .

The media report said it is feared that if Pakistan refuses a US request to return the tail section, the issue could turn into a diplomatic rift.

The stealth helicopter is probably a modified Blackhawk.

The chopper's stealth capabilities become clear from the fact that Osama's neighbours didn't hear the helicopters till they were directly overhead.

The shape and design of the chopper is similar to that of the RAH 66 Comanche helicopter, believe experts.

It is possible that the technology was adapted and placed into a Blackhawk. The modified tail boom would have lessened noise and appears to be covered in a hi-tech material used on stealth fighters.

"The Americans will be extremely keen to get the wreckage back but there will also be real concerns about the technology finding its way to China," Peter Felstead, the editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, was quoted as saying.

"This kind of technology would be extremely useful to them at this point."

Pakistan is working with China on the JF17 Thunder fighter project.

Helicopter Carrying SEALs Downed by Vortex, Not Mechanical Flaw or Gunfire

A United Technologies Corp. (UTX) Black Hawk helicopter carrying U.S. Navy SEALs to Osama Bin Laden’s hideout was downed by an air vortex caused by unexpectedly warm air and the effect of a high wall surrounding the compound, not mechanical failure or gunfire, according to U.S. officials and a lawmaker.

The Army pilot from the service’s most elite aviation unit executed a hard but controlled landing -- clipping a corner wall -- after the chopper lost lift. The 12 heavily armed SEALs exited the aircraft unharmed.

Senior government officials briefing reporters by telephone on May 1, the day bin Laden was killed, gave conflicting accounts, first saying the chopper experienced a mechanical “malfunction” and then backtracking without an explanation.

The initial administration explanation wasn’t accurate, according to U.S. government officials, a lawmaker and congressional staff briefed yesterday by Vice Admiral William McRaven, leader of the Joint Special Operations Command.

The command includes the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which piloted the SEALs of the Navy’s Special Warfare Development Group to the house in Abbottabad, Pakistan. McRaven yesterday briefed the Senate and House armed services and intelligence committees.

Rappelling Mission Ditched

The aviation unit is based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the base on Friday and see members of the 160th, said an Army official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the trip.

Twenty-five Navy SEALS were flown to the bin Laden home by two Black Hawks, CIA Director Leon Panetta told the PBS “News Hour” May 3.

The helicopter that crash-landed was supposed to hover over the compound’s courtyard so that the SEALS would rappel, or “fast rope,” to the ground, Panetta said.

According to two U.S. officials, who praised the skill of the pilot, the chopper lost the lift necessary to hover because it entered a “vortex” condition. At least two factors were at play -- hotter than expected air temperature and the compound’s 18-foot-high walls, they said.

The wall blocked rotor blade downwash from moving down and away as it normally would. This caused disturbed airflow to move in a circular, upward and then downward path back through the top of the rotor, causing insufficient lift for the aircraft.

Hard Landing

The pilot, realizing he had lost lift, landed quickly in a maneuver practiced by pilots to deal with helicopter flight conditions known as “settling with power,” one official said.

Another explained that if a helicopter hovers next to a large enough building at just the right distance, moving air created by the rotors won’t be able to exit freely. Instead, it will hit the wall and have nowhere to go except back into the rotor, robbing lift.

The pilot executed a “hard landing” as a result, House Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat Representative Adam Smith told reporters after a McRaven briefing.

Asked if there was a mechanical failure in the United Technologies’ Sikorsky aircraft, Smith said, “I don’t believe that is what happened.

‘‘As was explained to me, with the temperature and the setting, it came down faster than they anticipated so I don’t believe there was some sort of mechanical failure. It’s just those were tough conditions to land in,” Smith said.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Representative Howard McKeon of California reiterated in Washington yesterday that “it was not a mechanical failure.”

Wreckage Destroyed

He also said he had “no sense from the military that they had any concerns about” leaving wreckage of the modified Black Hawk, said McKeon.

The commandos detonated an explosive to destroy the helicopter, which the Army Times reports was a specially configured stealth model Black Hawk.

Two 160th additional MH-47 special operations Chinook helicopters provided back-up and assisted in flying out the raiders.

Sikorsky Aircraft spokesman Paul Jackson said the company hasn’t been contacted about any aspect of the raid.

Night Stalkers

Once known as the secret Task Force 160, the aviation regiment was formed in 1981 and has participated in most major U.S. military operations since the 1983 invasion of Grenada. Its pilots are known as the “Night Stalkers.”

Five of its personnel were lost and eight aircraft, including two Black Hawks, were either destroyed or damaged during the October 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia.

The unit’s Black Hawks and the mission to rescue the air crews were the basis of the book and movie “Black Hawk Down.”

The unit flies the Sikorsky MH-60 Black Hawk, Boeing Co. (BA) MH-47E heavy assault chopper, and the Boeing A/H-6M Little Bird, used to ferry Army Delta Force commandos during a raid in the invasion of Panama to free a jailed American businessman, Kurt Muse.

What makes the experts think the aircraft that crashed in Abbottabad was a secret "stealth helicopter?"

• "The first thing that stood out, and it may seem like a small thing, is the color scheme. Whereas most Black Hawk Army helicopters are painted olive green, this particular one is gray. Not just any gray; it's infrared-suppressant gray, and the purpose of the IR gray, as it's known, is to help reduce the vulnerability of the helicopter to ground-launched heat-seeking missile systems," Jennings told CNN Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence.

• Photos from Abbottabad show that the chopper had a five-bladed tail rotor. "On a conventional Black Hawk, you have four blades. The addition of the extra rotor blades on the tail rotor hub reduces the acoustic signature of the helicopter there by making it hard to hear, giving the SEALs that extra few minutes to get over the compound before anyone on the ground quite knows what's going on," according to Jennings.

• Those five tail rotor blades are partially covered by a disk-like object that Jennings called a "hub-mounted vibration suppression system." He believes it provides more noise suppression and some possible protection for the tail rotor from bullets of shrapnel. And it's not typical on military helicopters. "No, I've never seen that on an operational helicopter before," Jennings said. But he added that a similar system was part of the Comanche helicopter design.

• The blades on that tail rotor also appear to be shorter and thinner than typical Black Hawk helicopter's blades. One former Army Black Hawk pilot, who asked not to be identified, said, "More blades and shorter blades means the helicopter would make less noise in flight."

It's not just the tail rotor blades that are different. "On the main rotor assembly that was actually destroyed by the SEAL team on the ground the blades themselves are threaded, which signify that these are carbon composite rotor blades as opposed to conventional metal rotor blades, which again signifies aspects of stealth technology that have been incorporated into this particular helicopter," Jennings said.

• Some photos show parts of the helicopter appear similar to non-secret stealth aircraft. "What's left of the tail section of that helicopter, the shape of the fuselage, it's canted. It's angled. It's a shape that's synonymous with fixed-wing stealth fighters such as the F-22, the F-35. Essentially, it's designed to defeat radar. If you eliminate right angles in an aircraft design, radar waves can't bounce back," Jennings said.

What 'Situation Room Photo' reveals about us

By John Blake, CNN

May 5, 2011 -- Updated 2224 GMT (0624 HKT)

President Barack Obama and his national security team watch updates on the mission to capture Osama bin Laden on Sunday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• White House "Situation Room Photo" has become iconic
  
• Photo's power derives from three hidden messages, historians say
  
• Images in photo reveal how America is changing, they say
  
• Obama's body language shows new definition of presidential swagger, author says
  

(CNN) -- By now, the photo is a classic. It's become the most viewed image on Flickr -- a mesmerizing picture that suggests as much as it reveals.

You may know it simply as the "Situation Room Photo," but you may not be aware of what some say are three subliminal messages that make it so powerful and unusual.

The photo captures President Barack Obama huddled with his national security team in the White House Situation Room as they monitor via live video the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden.

Most commentators have focused on the historic nature of the photo: Obama staring at the screen with a grim intensity; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, covering her mouth to repress her reaction -- the epicenter of U.S. military power hunting down its most hated foe.

But look deeper and that photo becomes historic in a more subtle way. It's a snapshot of how much this nation's attitudes about race, women and presidential swagger are changing, several scholars and historians say.

Obama photo one for the history books

Clinton discusses situation room photo

"The photo is visually suggestive of a new American landscape that we're still crossing into," says Saladin Ambar, a political science professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

"When Obama was elected, there were some people who thought that we had crossed a racial threshold," Ambar says. "What his presidency is revealing is that there are many crossings."

A black man becomes 'protector in chief'

The photo crosses one threshold of race in its unusual framing of an African-American man threatening violence, one black commentator says.

For much of U.S. history, the black man has often been portrayed as the threat to America's safety -- the angry man, the thug, the one you cross the street to avoid, says Cheryl Contee, co-founder ofJack & Jill Politics, a blog focused on current affairs from a black perspective.

But in the Situation Room photo, Contee says, the black man is America's protector.

The photo is visually suggestive of a new American landscape that we're still crossing into.

--Saladin Ambar, political scientist

There's no historical precedent for this image, she says. White Americans now see a black man not just as their president but their "protector in chief," Contee says.

"That photo is amazing," she says. "It's another step toward rehabilitation of the image of black men in American culture. It's going to forever impact how people see black men in America."

The photo also resolves a tricky image problem for Obama, says Jerald Podair, a history professor at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Podair says Obama has always been careful to avoid the angry black male stereotype in his public persona, but has acquired another image -- that of detachment, even weakness.

The photo of Obama hunkered down with his national security team watching the stalking and killing of bin Laden solves both problems, Podair says.

"He can now appear strong without being threatening. After all, he's on our side. Obama can now take up his white predecessors' mantle of 'protector in chief,' " Podair says.

It's not certain how long that mantle will stay attached to Obama, but at least one political scientist says he's already seen the photo's impact.

"This is one of the rare times that Tea Party supporters have referred to Obama as President Obama," says Ari Kohen, an associate professor of social justice and political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Women at the center of power

The photo also breaks ground when it comes to women, others say.

The image is laced with testosterone: a crowded room full of powerful military and political men, some with medals bristling across their uniforms, gathered to drop America's hammer.

Some online viewers compared it to the photos of D-Day during World War II. Another said it was a portrait of "the nexus of power in the Western world."

But there were no iconic shots of women storming the beaches of Normandy or raising the flag at Iwo Jima.

Go back and examine the defining historic photos of American military might in action, and women are absent, historians say.

A glance at the now famous photos of President John F. Kennedy and his staff during the Cuban missile crisis is typical, says Ambar, the Lehigh University professor.

The photos show square-jawed men in crew cuts and uniforms surrounding Kennedy in the White House. You can practically smell the Aqua Velva in those old black-and-white photos.

"But if you go back and look at the Cuban missile crisis photos and the movies about it, there's no women," Ambar says. "In the movie 'Thirteen Days,' the only woman in the film was Kennedy's secretary."

Yet you see two powerful women in the Situation Room photograph -- Clinton and Audrey Tomason, director for counterterrorism, who is straining to see from the back. Their inclusion shows how far women have come, Ambar says, even though Clinton's response is ambiguous because she's covering her mouth in what looks to be alarm.

"God only knows what she's seeing on the screen," Ambar says.(Clinton has since said she was trying not to cough.)

Lori Brown, a sociologist, says showing two women at the center of American military power is noteworthy, but Clinton's gesture undermines some of its impact.

"Women are often more physical in their emotional responses and in a 'power situation' it may not seem as acceptable, but times are changing and the Situation Room needs to change, too," says Brown, a professor of sociology at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina. "Her emotions were more obvious, but I am sure many of the men in the room felt the same way she did."

Obama gets a little swagger

The photo finally crosses the threshold of what may be called presidential swagger, historians say.

American presidents have traditionally sold themselves as our alpha male. Theodore Roosevelt went safari hunting; Ronald Reagan cleared brush at his ranch in a cowboy hat; George W. Bush did his "Top Gun" imitation when he donned a flight suit on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

There's a certain kind of machismo and swagger that Americans expect their president to reflect.

--Clarence Lusane, author

RELATED TOPICS

• Osama bin Laden
• Barack Obama
• Hillary Clinton
• The White House
• United States

"There's a certain kind of machismo and swagger that Americans expect their president to reflect," says Clarence Lusane, author of "The Black History of the White House."

Projecting that presidential swagger was so powerful that it obscured some presidents' serious illnesses, such as President Franklin Roosevelt's polio and Kennedy's hobbling assortment of ailments, including a bad back, Lusane says.

"They were both very ill. Kennedy could barely stand for two hours. But they never let those images out because they had to project toughness. Obama, though, is a different animal."

The photo shows why.

If someone didn't know who Obama was, he or she probably couldn't tell that he was the president in the room, some scholars say.

"He's not in the tallest chair," says Brown, the sociology professor at Meredith College. "He's not the center of attention. He's not even in the middle of the room."

Yet Obama's willingness to be photographed without the typical Oval Office swagger gives birth to a new type of swagger, says Contee of Jack & Jill Politics.

She says that photo shows Obama's self-assurance and leadership style. He seeks out the opinions of his advisers. He believes in collaboration -- all while he's taking down the baddest terrorist on the planet.

He doesn't need to wear a "Top Gun" flight jacket to project strength, she says.

"You would almost expect the president to be standing in that position," she says. "That shows his leadership style. He doesn't need to thrust his leadership style forward."

Expect more snapshots such as the one from the Situation Room, says Ambar, the Lehigh University professor.

As Obama moves into the third year of his term, photos will capture moments that show how far we've come.

"That's part of what being the first African-American president is all about -- we're all being transformed together," he says.

Ambar says he was so intrigued by the Situation Room photo that he cut it out to study it. He's still parsing its meaning.

"It is an image unimaginable 30 years ago," he says. "Let us hope we have more of these in the nation's future."