US Helicopters Raid in Abbottabad

[Adnan Anwar]

Does anyone know where Ghazi Airbase is?

Google is point to PAF Masroor Base but I do not think it is correct.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=ghazi%20ai ... =en&tab=wl

[H Khan]

Very close to Tarbala Dam.

[Abbas Ali]

Ghazi Air Base located near the village of Tarbela Ghazi, just north of Islamabad, also served as the main logistics hub in Pakistan for the humanitarian response. Many helicopter relief flights for Pakistan's flood affectees were flown from this air base in 2010.

Couple of video grabs showing Ghazi Air Base during flood relief flights operation in August 2010.

United States C-130 Hercules and United States Army Boeing CH-47 Chinook at Ghazi Air Base.


Boeing CH-47 Chinook (right) and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk of US Army at Ghazi Air Base.

Abbas

[TAILWIND]

N 33.988, E 72.5669

[Abbas Ali]

This appears to be tail section of a helicopter.

The helicopter crashed probably after hitting some ground object like tree or wall or experienced some technical problem and later was destroyed by American forces, according to some news sources.


Part of a damaged helicopter is seen lying near the compound where al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad May 2, 2011 - Photo Source: Yahoo! News

Following still shots from video footage aired by a local news channel also appear to show wreckage of the crashed/destroyed helicopter.


Wreckage removed by a Pakistani military crane.


Rotor blades.

Btw, according to some news reports, US military MH-60 helicopters took part in operation - MH-60 is a variant of Black Hawk helicopter.

Abbas

[devastating]

The Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter is flown by 2 pilots, whereas it can carry 2 additional personals during an assault operation. The helicopter came under a phenomenon known as "Recirculation" and caused negative lift, thus crashing at the same spot, from where it intended to takeoff after dropping the assault troops.

[Abbas Ali]

MAY 3 - According to statement of Pakistan Foreign Office quoted by local news channels, Pakistan Army's Ghazi Aviation Base was not used by American forces for May 2 operation in Abbottabad and Pakistan did not provide any of its airfield for this operation.

However, international news media state that US military helicopters departed on their mission from Ghazi Aviation Base.

Abbas

[meekal ahmed]

According to the foreign press this morning, they flew out of Afghanistan and under Pakistani radar. That should be possible with their on-board, all-weather and night-capable, forward-looking terrain mapping systems. So, in essence, apart from the residents nearby, we were blissfully unaware of what was going on until they told us after having left our airspace.

Some say the chopper was hit by an RPG. Others say it was a mechanical fault and therefore un-flyable. It was destroyed on exit as is the normal practice. It was also the reason why they did not evacuate all the survivors, including women and children. I believe they were handed over to the Pakistani authorities who I am sure will ensure they are kept quiet.

[Abbas Ali]

There also are foreign reports about radar jamming devices used by American helicopters to prevent their detection by Pakistani radar/air defence system.

And according to Pakistani news sources, Pakistani authorities were informed about the operation after American helicopters exited Pakistani air space.

On Pakistani news media now there also are reports about Pakistan Air Force fighters scrambled when Pakistan became aware of this operation by American helicopters.

Authorities at Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) must have got alerted when this American operation began as PMA is not very far from place where this operation took place.

Abbas

[malshah]

I call BullS@#!t on Pakistan not knowing these birds were over Abbotabad, a mile from Kakul. The sector Air Defence commander had to be in the know. If they didn't react to un identified helicopters in their command area, they need to be outrightly sacked. One didn't need radar to hear helicopters flying over the town, while gun fight and explosions are taking place. A pair of functioning ears would have been enough.

[Abbas Ali]

Statement issued by Pakistan Foreign Office on May 3.

ISLAMABAD, May 3 (APP): The Foreign Office statement rejected reports about US helicopters taking off from Ghazi Airbase as “absolutely false and incorrect.” “Neither any base or facility inside Pakistan was used by the US Forces, nor Pakistan Army provided any operational or logistic assistance to these operations conducted by the US Forces,” the statement stressed.

According to the statement, “US helicopters entered Pakistani airspace making use of blind spots in the radar coverage due to hilly terrain. US helicopters’ undetected flight into Pakistan was also facilitated by the mountainous terrain, efficacious use of latest technology and ‘nap of the earth’ flying techniques.”

“It may not be realistic to draw an analogy between this undefended civilian area and some military/security installations, which have elaborated local defence arrangements.”

“On receipt of information regarding the incident, PAF scrambled its jets within minutes. This has been corroborated by the White House Advisor Mr John Brennan who while replying to a question said, “We didn’t contact the Pakistanis until after all of our people, all of our aircraft were out of Pakistani airspace.”

“At the time, the Pakistanis were reacting to an incident that they knew was taking place in Abbottabad. Therefore, they were scrambling some of their assets. Clearly, we were concerned that if the Pakistanis decided to scramble jets or whatever else, they didn’t know who were on those jets.”

“They had no idea about who might have been on there, whether it be US or somebody else. So, we were watching and making sure that our people and our aircraft were able to get out of Pakistani airspace. And thankfully, there was no engagement with Pakistani forces. This operation was designed to minimize the prospects, the chances of engagement with Pakistani forces. It was done very well, and thankfully no Pakistani forces were engaged and there were no other individuals who were killed aside from those on the compound.”

Source: APP

[offspring]

I am ashamed of our armed forces. They are not fit for fighting but have turned into property dealers.

40 minutes operation and no one even moved a muscle. even when radars are jammed there is enough personnel on our boarders to identify violation of airspace. I know this for a fact. face it we are americas b***h. Whether we like it or not.

[KSKJADOON]

I have relatives and friends living close to PMA Kakul and this is what they said on the morning of this event :

Exactly 1 hour before the raid there were vehicles going around with loudspeakers warning all residents to stay indoors and switch off all the lights and any moving vehicles were told to stop at once on the spot. The announcemnt was clear and was done in urdu and repeated in pashto. It appeared that Pak Army then cordoned off the area and made sure there was no movement on the ground level. The time was around 1am-2am. Sirens were also sounding in the PMA area, which could be heard atleast 1 km away since this area is mainly farmland. Then approximatley 1 hour later there were noises from low level flying holicopter rotors followed by prolong gun fire, then an explosion and fire.

If you ask me personally - I think Pak Army must have known but didnt want to be seen to be pulling the trigger, especially after we all know what these terrorists within Pak can do to our beloved homeland as retaliation. And again I personally dont think ISI would have had knowledge that this man was here but surely they would have known on the night that US were going to carry out a raid or maybe they were told on the night - keep quite at any cost .... $$$$$ .... and let us do what we have to...

[SalamPaks]

So here's a question...

If, as the above poster says, there were all these announcements and sirens prior to the attack, what, I wonder would Mr. Bin Laden do? Just sit there? Not bloody likely. Second, if you were the US, would you trust Pakistan with something as important as being involved in the capture of the most wanted man in the world?

[kamalla]

Alot of very inconsistent reports both from inside Pakistan and in the Western media.

If the Americans were indeed able to enter Pakistani airspace undetected, carry out their operation for a full 40 minutes and then exit Pakistani airspace without anyone in the country knowing about it, then I think Pakistan's Air defense is absolutely useless.... Even though the US has advanced technology that may be able to get around radars etc, there has to be some other mechanism for the authorities to be notified that intruders have got so far into Pakistani territory and not just for a few minutes, but a full 40 minutes. I mean what's to stop someone from repeating this tactic and take out Pakistan's nuclear or other key installations? I'm sure there are a handful of countries salivating at that possibility.