MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird

MH-6 of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment

The United States Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), also known as Night Stalkers, is a special operations force that provides helicopter aviation support for general purpose forces and special operations forces. Its missions have included attack, assault, and reconnaissance, and are usually conducted at night, at high speeds, low altitudes, and on short notice.

The architects of the task force identified the need for a small helicopter that could land in the most restrictive locations and could be easily transported on Air Force airlifters. They chose the OH-6A scout helicopter, and it became known as the Little Bird compared to the other aircraft in the task force, the UH-60A and the CH-47C. As a separate part of the project, armed OH-6As were being developed at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

The pilots selected to fly the OH-6A helicopters came from the 229th Attack Helicopter Battalion and were sent to the Mississippi Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) at Gulfport, Mississippi, for two weeks of qualification training in the aircraft. When the training was completed, C-141 aircraft transported the aircraft and crews to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, for two weeks of mission training. The mission training consisted of loading onto C-130 transport aircraft which would then transport them to forward staging areas over routes as long as 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km). The armed OH-6 aircraft from Fort Rucker joined the training program in the fall of 1980.

Operation Credible Sport was a joint project of the U.S. military in the second half of 1980 to prepare for a second rescue attempt of the hostages held in Iran. It was canceled after the hostages were released on 20 January 1981 and, for a short while, it looked as if the task force would be disbanded and the personnel returned to their former units. However, the Army decided that it would be more prudent to keep the unit. The task force, which had been designated Task Force 158, was soon formed into the 160th Aviation Battalion. The OH-6A helicopters used for transporting personnel became the MH-6 aircraft of the Light Assault Company and the armed OH-6As became the AH-6 aircraft of the Light Attack Company.

The OH-6s of 160th SOAR were some of the first to see action in Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury. A/MH-6 Little Birds were used during the 1983 invasion of Grenada to evacuate casualties onto naval ship decks. The existence of the unit became widely known in the aftermath of the October 1983 invasion of Grenada, as OH-6s helicopters were seen supporting Special Operations during this operation.DoD and the US Army denied A/MH-6s were used in the operation despite amateur video showing the helicopters in action.

The OH-6s were flown in USAF C-130 transport planes, two at a time, to nearby Barbados. From there they flew to Grenada.

By 1983, 160th SOAR and its helicopters were heavily committed to supporting the contras, a United States-subsidized military force. Specially adapted unmarked Hughes 500D helicopters from CIA Seaspray unit based in Fort Eustis also took part in this task .[3]

MH-6s were based in Palmerola Air Base, Honduras, and flew missions into Nicaragua. The unit members wore civilian clothes, flew by night, and were instructed to destroy their aircraft if they were forced down.

On 24 July 1987, a Kuwaiti oil tanker, reflagged as Bridgeton and escorted by U.S. Navy warships, struck a mine in the Persian Gulf. It became apparent that more than escort ships would be required to guard merchant ships. The U.S. military deployed the MH-6 and AH-6 aircraft from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) to provide surveillance and patrols in cooperation with other U.S. special operations units in Operation Prime Chance.

Two MH-6 and four AH-6 aircraft were initially deployed and designated as Detachment 160 Aviation Group (DET 160 AVGP). The MH-6 aircraft carried Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) and a videotape system which gave them excellent ability to detect and identify targets, then direct the armed AH-6s. The AH-6 helicopters were armed with 7.62 miniguns and 2.75-inch rockets. Initially, the aircraft patrolled in teams (call sign "SEABAT") that waited for U.S. Navy SH-2s to direct them to the targets. Later, to preserve the aircraft and crews from fatigue and wear, the SEABAT teams remained on the ship's deck until a contact was identified.

At 10 pm on 21 September 1987, the captain of USS Jarrett launched a SEABAT team (a MH-6 and two AH-6s) to check out reports of Iranian minelaying. The team found Iran Ajr, an amphibious landing ship equipped with minelaying racks. The MH-6 confirmed that Iran Ajr was laying mines, the AH-6s opened fire, causing the crew to abandon ship. The vessel was subsequently boarded and captured.

On the night of 8 October 1987, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Boghammar and two Boston Whaler boats were detected by an SH-2. A SEABAT team was launched from USS Ford (FFG-54), and as the MH-6 drew near to investigate, the Boghammar opened fire, the first of a series of engagements by both AH-6s and the MH-6 (recently armed with a minigun). The Boghammar launched two Stinger missiles at the helicopters, but eventually all three boats were sunk.

For the remainder of the operation, it was decided that barges set up as mobile sea bases (MSB) would facilitate the operation of the special operations forces. Hercules and Wimbrown VII were leased to provide these bases and the SEABAT teams began operating from the barges.

In early 1988, it was decided that modified U.S. Army OH-58D helicopters, fitted with weapons, would replace the SEABAT teams. On 24 February 1988, a team of two AHIP helicopters replaced the SEABAT team on the Wimbrown VII but it would be several months (June 1988) before the SEABAT team aboard the barge Hercules would be relieved by another AHIP detachment.[3]

On 17 December 1989, 9 MH-6s, 11 AH-6G/Js, 19 UH/MH-60As were flown by Air Force C-5 Galaxy airlifters to Howard AFB's Hangar 3. After dark, on 19 December, the aircraft were rolled out to prepare for Operation Just Cause.

Before the main invasion force arrived in Panama City, Panama, two MH-6s supported by two AH-6s landed at Torrijos-Tocumen Airport to insert a beacon and combat controllers. Four other AH-6s conducted pre-assault attacks on the Panamanian Defense Force (PDF) Headquarters, La Comandancia, adjoining the heavily populated El Chorrillo neighborhood in downtown Panama City. One of the AH-6s was damaged by ground fire and crashlanded in the Comandancia compound. The two pilots, pinned down by small-arms fire for two hours, eventually made their way back to friendly forces, taking a PDF soldier prisoner along the way.

Other AH-6s escorted MH-6s on a rooftop rescue operation conducted at Cárcel Modelo, a prison adjacent to La Comandancia. In Operation Acid Gambit, the aircraft approached the prison. Under fire from a nearby apartment house, the Little Birds landed on the roof, dropped off the rescue team, and lifted off. Upon their return, heavy smoke made it tough to find the roof and the helicopters took heavy fire from a cellblock about 50 to 60 feet (18 m) from the landing site. Maj. Richard Bowman, a copilot, took a round in the elbow. His pilot took over the controls and landed the aircraft. The aircraft picked up the rescue personnel and headed back toward Howard AFB, but one MH-6 lost power as it left the roof, and crashed in the street below with minor injuries to the passengers, who were helped from the crash site by U.S. infantry soldiers.

Elsewhere, four AH-6s provided fire support for the airborne assault at Rio Hato Airfield, supported by an MH-60 which operated as a Forward Arming and Refuel Point (FARP). Two nine-man teams from the 160th participated in the airborne assaults of Torrijos-Tocumen Airfield and Rio Hato Airfield, and were dropped from Air Force C-141s to set up FARPs, 12-foot (3.7 m) platforms with HE-rocket and minigun ammunition, parts and replacements for the miniguns, and fuel and refueling pumps, hoses, etc. But the FARP dropped at Rio Hato landed out of reach in a marsh, forcing the team to "wet wing" refuel from the MH-60.

The Rio Hato mission originally included nine other MH-60s and four MH-6s. Several hours prior to H-hour, these aircraft and crews were instead sent to support a raid near Colón, Panama, a key PDF stronghold where PDF leaders were believed to be. At H-hour, the helicopters conducted an air assault on a beach house along the coast of Colon. It was during this mission that the first 160th soldiers to die in combat perished when their AH-6 was shot down.

Another force of eight MH-60s and four MH-6s waited on the airstrip with crew aboard, to conduct follow-on raids should the need arise.

After these initial missions, elements of the 160th provided support to special operations forces securing outlying areas, recovering weapons caches, and "hunt for Elvis" – the phrase the men of the 160th used to refer to the search for General Manuel Noriega. Four MH-60s, two MH-6s, two AH-6s, and two MH-47s were moved to Ft. Sherman in the north for operations in and around Colon.

The 160th conducted numerous air assault missions over the next two weeks, and on 3 January 1990, the majority of the force went back to Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

MH-6 Little Birds were part of the initial assault near the Olympic Hotel in the Bakara Market of Mogadishu, Somalia. The MH-6s conducted rooftop insertions of Delta Force soldiers.

After the shootdown of the MH-60L, call sign "Super Six-One", by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), an MH-6 Little Bird, call sign "Star Four-One", landed in the street next to the downed MH-60 and attempted to evacuate the casualties. The pilot went to assist survivors, successfully pulling two soldiers into the Little Bird, while the copilot laid down suppressive fire from the cockpit with his individual weapon. Under intense ground fire, the MH-6 departed with its crew and survivors.[4]

During the night, AH-6J gunships provided fire support to Rangers and Delta Force operators who were in defensive positions around the crash site of "Super 6-1" and under constant fire from Warlord Mohammad Farrah Aidid's militia members.

Two AH-6J Little Birds take off for a mission during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

During the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and up until the end of the war in late 2011, Little Bird pilots took part in numerous missions. Two AH-6 and two MH-6 helicopters were part of a special operations raid at Al Qadisiyah in western Iraq. AH-6 and MH-6 gave support for the 75th Ranger Regiment during its seizure of the Haditha Dam complex in April 2003.

AH-6 helicopters were also tasked with supporting the rescue mission of Private First Class Jessica Lynch in April 2003.

MH-6 helicopters were part of TF-145, as well as the rescue of three Italian contractors and Polish businessman taken hostage by Iraqi insurgents in 2004.

In September 2009, two AH-6 and two MH-6 helicopters were used in an operation in Somalia by U.S. Navy SEALs to kill wanted terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.[5]