Black Files Declassified (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Rise of the Nightstalkers - full transcript
Baker: A black ops mission...
The united states
has conducted an operation
That killed osama bin laden.
...Reveals a shadowy group...
I'm under a heavy
disclosure agreement,
So I'm not gonna get into that.
...With top secret technology.
Start, clear!
They're not going to announce
when they show up.
Baker: Is their next
mission in a major u.S. City?
[ over radio ]
0-9-8 purple, we have a splash.
Stand by for pta.
[ beeping ]
Baker: Every year,
more than $90 billion
Is allocated to
clandestine government programs
Collectively called
the black budget.
Each individual operation
is a black file.
I'm mike baker.
As a covert
cia operations officer
For over a decade and a half,
I supervised missions
around the globe.
My security clearances
gave me access
To many classified projects.
Now I'm following
the money trail
To the secrets hidden inside
the black files.
Within the black files is
a storied group of army aviators
From the 160th special
operations aviation regiment,
Known as the night stalkers.
Their mission?
Nighttime air support
for some of the most dangerous
And clandestine attack
and reconnaissance operations
Under the black budget.
Most of what we know about
them is shrouded in mystery,
But we did get some unexpected
insight on may 2, 2012.
That's when president
barack obama declared...
The united states
has conducted an operation
That killed osama bin laden,
The leader of al qaeda.
The black file operation
to take out osama bin laden,
The taliban leader responsible
for the 9-11 attacks,
Was known as neptune's spear.
During the nighttime raid,
One of the sikorsky
uh-60 black hawks,
Carrying the seal team,
Crash landed
in bin laden's compound.
Within minutes, news of
the black op in pakistan
Raced across the globe.
Soon after, photos
of the crash-landed remains
Of the helicopter surfaced.
U.S. Government officials
reported that seal team members
Blew up the chopper,
Hoping to keep the
technology secret,
But this tail rotor survived,
Intriguing aviation experts
around the world
Who believed
it's specially modified.
What can the night
stalker black file
Reveal about this
stealth technology?
There are very few people
to turn to
For information about
the night stalkers.
One of them is
an investigative journalist
Who gained the military's trust
After being embedded with them
for months in afghanistan.
[ beeping ]
[ car horns honking ]
Shawn, talk to me about
the origin
And the evolution
of the night stalkers.
The night stalkers were formed
as a reaction to
The failure of the iran
hostage rescue mission in 1980.
Baker: Operation eagle claw
was ordered by president carter
To rescue 52 americans
held hostage in iran.
Technical problems
in a sandstorm
Compromise several craft
and the mission was canceled.
As the force withdrew,
A chopper crashed
into a transport.
There was an explosion.
Eight service members died,
and america was humiliated.
So in an effort to avoid
anything like that
Happening again,
The night stalkers were created
To be that no-fail organization.
So fast forward three decades,
And you have the planning for
operation neptune's spear.
As we now know,
they crash landed.
One of the stealth black hawks
in the compound,
Due to the extraordinary skill
of the pilot
That was handling
that black hawk,
Nobody was hurt,
And the mission was
nonetheless a success.
Baker: The night stalkers
Have pioneered
night flight techniques,
And evolved into the premier
helicopter pilots
In the military.
They fly the mh-60,
the mh-47g chinook
And the mh-6 little bird.
The night stalkers importance
is reflected by their commanding
25% of the military's
aviation budget,
$5 billion annually.
[ beeping ]
I know more about the formation
of the night stalkers now,
But I still need to know
why the helicopter crashed
During the bin laden raid,
And details about the tail rotor
stealth technology.
I'm hoping to learn about that,
When I meet with
an actual night stalker.
Look at that.
I mean, you're used to looking
at that, but that's impressive.
Uh, as is your resume,
by the way,
Nine years with the seals,
and then you join
One of the most secretive units
within the military.
The night stalkers, the 160th.
What's the top-line mission?
The whole purpose
Of the 160th special operations
aviation regiment,
No matter
what aircraft we're flying,
Is to take our customers,
all the top-tier salters
In the united states military
And to put them
any place on the earth,
Plus or minus 30 seconds.
In any weather conditions,
any combat conditions,
Any environmental impacts,
to get them on that spot,
Where they asked to,
no fail, every single time.
Baker: Those missions include
the liberation of panama,
The 2001 invasion
of afghanistan,
Many engagements in operations
desert shield and desert storm,
And since 9-11,
continuous combat operations
Around the world.
What was that like when
you started training
For nighttime operations?
Well, when you start
flying at night,
That changes everything,
Because it's an unnatural
environment for a pilot.
Not being able to
see is... is unnatural.
Now, we've got the technology
to mitigate that,
But on average, a night stalker,
You'll fly 50-60%
of your total flight hours
Over career at nighttime.
You live in the nighttime,
and when you deploy,
Strictly nighttime flying,
you may never see the daylight
In a 60 or 90 day deployment.
Baker: Mike is one
of the very few
To become a night stalker pilot.
He's also one of the very few
to know the intricacies
Of the incredible technology
That makes these choppers
unique,
Some of which I'm hoping
he'll share with me.
On 160th black hawks,
they've got a lot of pods,
A lot of stuff
sticking out of it.
One of them is the mmr,
or the multi-mode radar,
Which allows a pilot
to actually fly
In terrain flights
in 0/0 visibility,
Meaning can't see outside
the cockpit in a cloud,
In a dust cloud,
whatever the case may be,
And you're flying off
instrument cues,
Which... which allows,
once you're there,
The aircraft to infill targets
Where you just...
You can't see what you're doing.
So you have no visibility,
-no visibility.
Visual cues and how far
off the ground are you?
Down to about 100 feet.
You know, in reality,
The machines are not
the limitation of the missions,
It's the pilot.
Baker: So given all of this
cutting-edge technology,
Does that mean it was pilot
error and equipment issue
Or something else
that brought down the black hawk
In operation neptune's spear?
The bin laden raid,
abbottabad...
To the degree that you can
talk about it,
The technology that was used
to create that stealth ability
For those assets that went in...
How much would that have
Affected the way
that those helicopters flew?
And honestly, you know,
I'm under
a heavy disclosure agreement,
So I'm not gonna get into that.
But... but you can bet
That the helicopter
was vastly different enough
That there was a significant
amount of training.
Pilots of any skill level
didn't just hop in it
And go fly.
So they were training as much
on the helicopter
As they were
for the mission itself.
But obviously
it was a unique airframe.
I gotta tell you, mike,
I don't impress necessarily
all that easily
After all these years.
But I'm super impressed
with you, with your career,
Everything you chose to do
for this country, thank you.
It was my pleasure,
my pleasure being on the show.
Thanks.
I appreciate that mike's
operational security
Won't allow him to go deeper
Into the night stalkers'
technology.
So I have to find
another way in.
That may be by taking on one
of the most dangerous aspects
Of the night stalkers,
flying under the cover of dark.
In my quest to track down
the top secret technology
Behind the night stalker
black file,
[ beeping ]
I'm headed to waco, texas.
Adam aldous
of night flight concepts
Teaches the elite in government
and the military
To fly under
dangerous conditions at night.
How do the elite pilots
of the 160th
Navigate the night skies?
And what sort of specialized
technology makes it possible?
Well, I'm about to find out.
Seatbelts fastened on the right.
Seatbelts fastened on the right.
Fuel valve switch is on,
guard is closed
Altimeter set to
field elevation.
All right, mike, you ready?
All good.
Check, start, clear!
[ helicopter powers up ]
Now we're gonna start reversing.
[ indistinct radio chatter ]
Ready for takeoff.
[ helicopter whirring ]
Night vision goggles are on.
So, out of curiosity, adam,
How long did it take you to
get comfortable flying at night?
Not until you start doing it
for a while.
I mean, it's probably only took
300 hours, 400 hours,
Actually flying nvgs
before I was actually out there
Doing all
of the real cool stuff.
Baker: Night vision goggles,
or nvgs
Utilize a technology
called image enhancement.
When light particles
or photons enter the goggles,
They're converted into electrons
By a light-sensitive surface
called a photo cathode
And then multiplied
by the thousands.
Those electrons
hit a phosphor screen,
Which causes them to emit
tiny flashes of light,
Amplifying the brightness
of the scene.
Adam, what are
the biggest challenges
In doing nighttime operations?
You know, I think the biggest
challenge is just
Having more acuteness
to everything
That's going on around you.
You know, you probably
notice how much
I'm moving my head over here
Because I have such a limited
field of view
Compared to what I do
during the daytime.
But I have to build a
mental image,
You know, by continuously
moving in my head,
You know, so my brain can
kind of see what's going on.
Yeah.
If you're in
a hostile environment,
You're getting ready to
do a mission in the evening,
Is it more challenging
in an urban setting
Or in a rural setting?
You know, it really kind of
depends on what you're doing.
They both have their challenges.
Blake:
Challenges is the key word.
What I'm experiencing right now
Is without the added challenges
of weather, incoming fire
And holding position
to let passengers on or off.
Lights on.
Request permission to put
my check ready for landing.
Well I gotta tell you, adam
thank you very much, man.
Oh, you're welcome, mike,
thank you.
♪
Baker: To become fully
mission qualified,
Night stalker pilots must fly
hundreds of hours on top of
Thousands of hours they have
from prior training.
So given they're some of
the best pilots on the planet,
I'm curious as to why
one of the choppers
Crashed in the bin laden
compound.
[ beeping ]
I'm in washington, d.C.
To put that question
to a man who's hard-wired
Into the world of
black files aviation.
Jim childs was one of
the first to recognize
That the wreckage
from the bin laden compound
Was unlike anything
that we'd seen before.
♪
What did you think
when you saw those?
It raised some questions
in my mind.
One question that I had looking
at the tail rotor picture is
Why wasn't it
all broken into pieces?
Because normally in
a helicopter accident,
The tail rotor,
if it hits something,
Just gets completely shredded.
Baker: The tail section drew
a lot of attention
From military analysts
and aviation experts
Who observed the unusual
configuration of the rear rotor,
The curious housing
around the gearbox
Believed to be noise-reducing,
and the smooth tail fin
Coated in a material
thought to absorb radar waves.
It's possible that the housing
also protected the rotor,
Answering jim's question about
why it didn't break on impact.
I guess a couple things
struck me.
One, of course, was the
disc, which,
Apparently there to shield
all that gearing and the hub
Of the tail rotor from radar.
The other thing.
It looked to me like
a scissor rotor.
It's not symmetrical.
It's actually more of,
like a flattened x.
You can cut the acoustic
signature of the tail rotor,
Which is a pretty
penetrating noise.
So you know that's...
It fits with a stealth,
Because stealth is more than
just radar.
It's a whole approach.
And had you seen something
like this before,
Though, talking about the nature
of this tail rotor
And the stealth concept?
Well, the stealth concept had,
in fact,
There's some information here
from 1978
That wasn't generally known
until after the raid.
Baker: This report outlines
how engineers
Could turn a uh-60 black hawk
into a stealth flying machine,
Focusing on two key elements.
Reshaping the aircraft
and making it quieter.
The way stealth works,
It's a whole mix of things.
It's the shape
Of how the little plates
fasten together.
It's the shape
of the leading edges.
It's the shape
of the whole aircraft.
It's the... the coating,
The low observable coating.
What's your understanding
As to why that helicopter
went down?
Well, the common wisdom is
That it was
marginal in performance.
The altitude there
is 1200 meters.
It was a warm night,
may 1, may 2.
And so what can happen
if you're in a tailwind
And then you've got all this
turbulence coming up
From the compound,
but then down it goes.
All right.
And it would not
surprise you, then,
If there is
a black budget somewhere
Funding the development
of the next generation
Of stealth black hawk?
I'm sure there is.
[ beeping ]
Baker: I've sent a copy of
the documents jim gave me
To good friend and scientist,
ben mcgee.
I'm hoping he could shed
more light
On the stealth technology
from the schematics.
♪
Good to see you.
Good to see you.
So stealth technology,
What were you able to figure out
From those documents
and the schematics
That I sent you?
There wasn't a whole lot
of technical information
I could pull out of that.
But I know they were making
modifications to the fuselage,
And it ultimately boils down
to working on
What we would think of as
traditional stealth technology.
It's interesting,
because when people...
Most people are familiar with
the term, right?
- Yeah.
- Stealth technology,
But I think they always
assume it means,
"okay, we're gonna make this
helicopter completely silent,"
- Right?
- Yeah, no, no.
It's gonna snake in, snake out.
We're talking about radar.
Yeah, usually, I mean the bulk
of stealth technology is radar.
Now there are things you can do
to make aircraft quieter.
Mm-hmm.
There are things you could do
to try and reduce
Its heat signature.
But the greatest threat that
stealth is trying to address
Is the radar,
it is radio, and why?
Because it travels
So much farther
than everything else.
You're going to see
something in radio
Way before you're gonna hear it,
And way before you're gonna
see its heat signature.
Radio waves are a color
of light that we can't see.
They travel farther.
That's why they're good
at reaching out
And bouncing off
of an enemy aircraft.
So the way that radar works...
Radar stands for
radio detection and ranging...
Is you basically emit
a really bright flash
Of radio light,
And you watch for a reflection
back off of, say, an aircraft,
Like a helicopter, an airplane.
This is not at all unlike,
I mean,
The physics are identical
to using ordinary light.
So this is a regular flashlight,
- And, yeah.
- Okay.
Here I have a signal mirror,
And this is gonna represent
invisible light
What's actually happening in
radio with stealth technology.
Now imagine that this signal
mirror is the side of this.
I mean, we're using this
black hawk helicopter.
It's not stealth modified,
but that actually works for us.
This model here, um, so you see,
The side of this is actually
very flat, so when I hold...
I'm assuming I'm what?
Playing the role
of the radar station?
You are now the bad guy.
Okay, radar is on.
Yeah, so, as you can see,
you are shining a radio signal.
It's bouncing off the side
of this
Thing and coming
straight back to you.
Right, I'm getting a signature.
You got it.
- It's on my screen.
- Yep.
I'm letting the missiles go.
Yep, that's exactly right.
- This guy's toast.
- Mm-hmm.
So one of the ideas of stealth
is to actually
Take the engineering of this
aircraft and add angles to it,
So that instead of bouncing
back to you, you can see now
That this signal's
being essentially
Bounced back into space.
And so it's never coming back
down to the ground where anyone
Could see it,
and that's why stealth aircraft,
Stealth craft of any kind,
we tend to all recognize
That angles,
very steep dramatic angles,
Are part of stealth technology.
So that's one,
that's the deflection, right?
And then the other
opportunity is to what?
You got it.
Well, you can either then...
You either deflect
Or you change the material
that this is made of
To literally absorb radio waves.
So you see how now
the backside of this mirror
Is a very dark material
in regular light.
So you see,
there's literally almost no...
Right.
I mean you could argue
maybe just a trace glow,
But no clear reflection
coming back to you.
And this would be the materials
angle of stealth.
Thank you, ben.
Good information. Great.
- Yep, take it easy.
- Thank you.
Baker: Jim childs and ben
offer important insights
Into how a scissor rotor,
material contours
And absorbable coating
are some of the many parts
That all fit together
To help minimize
the stealth hawk signature.
Those are important facets
of this black file,
But machines need highly
trained men and women
To make their incredibly
dangerous mission successful.
How do these black ops train
for the unexpected?
Well, I'm about to find out.
[ indistinct voice on intercom ]
[ beeping ]
Night stalker technology
Has shed light on why
a chopper crashed
During the bin laden raid,
and how the 160th stays hidden
During dangerous
nighttime raids.
Now I'd like to learn how they
prepare for their missions.
I'm headed out to
groton, connecticut,
To visit a top night stalker
training facility.
[ beeping ]
My guide is
a former night stalker
Who's been through
their top secret training
And knows firsthand
about the dangers they face.
What does it take to become
a night stalker?
I went straight into
a selection process
That 160th has
known as green platoon.
This is a five-week-long
selection process,
And it's set in place to weed
out the guys who can't make it
Into the unit past selection.
Baker: Green platoon is an
extremely demanding program
That teaches basic soldiering,
combat and weapons skills.
It's capped off by black day,
The specifics
of which are classified,
But it's infamous for
Forcing some out of the program.
Those who make it through
receive up to two years
Of additional training,
Including advanced programs
like air assault,
Seer... or survive, evade,
resist and escape,
And dunker school
To learn how to escape
from a sunken helicopter.
What about dunker school?
What was that like?
Nerve-racking.
When you're strapped
into a mock aircraft
In a confined space,
being dunked under a pool
And flipped upside down,
And you have to egress
on your own breath,
There's just something about it
That gets your nerves going,
I guess.
David, when I got here,
to get together with you,
I couldn't help but
notice there's a large pool
Here in the building.
You want to maybe
tell me something?
Yeah, mike, so we're here
today at survival systems,
Where they facilitate
and build the curriculum
For dunker school.
We're actually gonna go
get in the pool and get a taste
Of what it's like to go through
dunker school
To become a night stalker.
Really?
Yeah, are you excited?
I'm not sure if excited
is actually the word,
David, that I'm looking for.
I'm back to school.
Back to school.
Are you ready, mike?
Uh, ready for lunch,
Or what are we talking about
ready for?
One thing I learned
in government.
Never say, "yes, I'm ready,"
Until you know what
you're talking about.
All right, well, gentlemen,
my name is andrew kelly.
Thank you very much
for joining us
Here at survival systems usa.
Today, our objective
is to provide you
With the skills and knowledge
you'll need
To survive an aircraft ditching
With an emergency
breathing device.
All right, so
it should be a pretty fun day.
You guys excited?
Yeah.
Excellent, you look excited.
[ laughing ]
All right, guys,
So these are your
emergency breathing devices,
What we refer to as ebds.
These are what
you're gonna be using
To give you some air,
Give you the ability
to breathe underwater
And really focus on your egress,
all right?
So we're gonna talk about how to
safely implement these devices,
Make sure that we're not
suffering any of those
Compressed air injuries
that we talked about earlier.
Make sure we're using
them properly,
And they're gonna help us out
as need to egress our aircraft.
Baker: The training I'm about
to undergo is deadly serious.
Night stalker flights are
always in the danger zone,
And some have crashed
Under heavy fire at sea
With tragic consequences.
In 2002,
a night stalker flown chinook
Went down in the bohol strait
south of manila,
And in 2017, a black hawk
crashed off the coast of yemen.
This training gives the night
stalkers valuable experience
Of how to escape a downed
helicopter in the water.
♪
Now I'm about to train
The same way
the night stalkers do.
You ready?
Checking for all clear.
Clear.
All right, here we go.
In my quest to better understand
The elite group of
helicopter pilots,
Legendary even within
the black ops world,
I've gotten myself into an
interesting training exercise.
Are you guys ready to go?
Yeah, absolutely.
Go ahead.
Do you wanna...?
Okay.
No you go first, dude.
I'm about to submerge myself
in a cockpit underwater.
Is there one luckier
than the others?
As long as you complete
the day successfully,
It becomes lucky.
I'm actually feeling
somewhat trepidatious.
I don't know if that's a word.
All kidding aside, I suspect
this training exercise
Is about to bring back some
bad memories.
During a three week rafting
trip down the colorado river,
A raft are was on flipped in
a particularly bad rapid,
And I almost drowned.
Of all the crap I've done
over the years.
Uh, you know,
all the places I've been,
And for the work I used to do,
That was the single most
frightening moment of my life,
Bar-none.
♪
Okay, time to do this.
First up, a simple jump.
So here's what we're gonna do.
You want to look below you.
Make sure that there's
no obstructions,
There's no obstacles
in your way.
You want to stare directly
out towards the horizon.
You ready?
Checking for all clear.
Clear.
All right, here we go.
Jumping off a platform
is not exactly rocket science,
But you have to do it right,
And imagine if you're in
those conditions, right?
You compound that,
And it's suddenly a much more
difficult process.
Next, we have to try and
escape the sweat chair.
These initial experiences are
all building up
Towards an actual simulated
chopper crash.
Instructor: So, on your first run
here, you're gonna cross your arms.
You're gonna hear, "ditching,
ditching, ditching."
We're gonna invert you,
bottom motion stops.
You wanna sit up out of that
brace so you get the head back.
You want out this exit here,
So you wanna take
your outboard hand,
Put you on a reference
off of your body,
Find that exit, there you go.
Once you get your hand there,
All right, just push straight
out, grab the exit frame,
And with your inboard hand here,
Come down, find that dial.
All right, pull yourself out
nice and easy.
[ sighs ]
All right, let's give it a go.
Ditching, ditching, ditching.
[ draws breath in ]
♪
♪
Good job, stand up.
[ claps ]
Yeah I mean, as long as you
keep your... your head about you
You remember exactly
what they tell you,
These guys know exactly
what they're doing.
So, you know, the points are
all very logical.
I think that the key is just
staying calm,
And not necessarily focusing
on anything else.
Instructor: Now pull yourself
in, get yourself strapped in
Just like you were before.
Okay, I'm good.
Now on this one, the exit's
on the other side,
And you're gonna wear these
blacked-out goggles.
That's interesting.
Yeah, because
when you're underwater,
You're probably not going
to be able to see any way.
Keep your eyes closed,
You're replacing
that vision with feel,
With the reference points,
all right?
And this is just gonna
keep you honest.
Ditching, ditching, ditching.
[ draws breath in ]
♪
Good job.
Stand up.
I'll get those goggles back.
Good job.
Did you push the window out
while it was rolling?
- Or did that just pop out?
- No, I was waiting, yeah.
No, it stopped before.
I was like, "man, mike is not
playing around,
He's gotta get outta there."
Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking,
"ahh... Let's go!"
Instructor: Okay, guys, so you
just got your introduction to egress
In the sweat chair,
now what we're gonna do
Is we're going to get
into the mets.
Baker: The mets is a full scale
helicopter frame,
Which simulates the experience
and difficulties
Of a crash at sea.
Instructor: All right, guys.
So here's what's gonna happen.
You're gonna hear me say,
"ditching, ditching, dishing,"
At which point the simulator
is going to begin to lower
And submerge into the water.
Upon that ditching call,
You want to get into
a good brace position.
When the violent motion stops,
you going to sit up,
Use a reference point
to locate your exit.
Clear your exit.
While you're
holding on to the exit frame,
Your inboard hand can come down,
undo that rubbery buckle,
And you can pull yourself out
to the surface.
Sounds good.
- All right.
- Got it.
- Good deal.
- Awesome.
All right, let's do it.
[ buttons beeping ]
[ male voice over intercom ]
mayday, mayday, mayday!
This is breach 918,
58 degrees north,
134 degrees west.
[ alarm beeps ]
Heading 302,
repeat, this is breach 918.
Mayday, mayday, mayday!
Ditching, ditching, ditching.
Aside from staying calm,
not an easy thing to do,
It's critical
to keep your orientation,
So that even in pitch black
and upside down,
You still know which way
to head out.
♪
The key here is you just gotta
keep training.
That's what these guys do,
whether it's 160th.
Or any other spec ops.
They just...
If you're not doing
your training,
Because at some point that
muscle memory is gonna kick in
When everything else
is heading south
And that's what you have
to rely on.
In my old job,
If you were in the water,
something was going wrong,
Badly,
but I actually honestly wish
That we had had this training,
And to be honest, one thing
I'll mention to the old outfit
After all this is done,
Is they should incorporate
some of this.
David, I gotta tell you,
I wasn't sure what to make
Of the invite
to spend a day in dunker school,
But I wouldn't have missed it
for the world.
It was a brilliant bit
of insight.
A small look at what
you had to go through,
What all the folks
in the 160th and others
Have to go through
to keep this country safe,
And I just want to say
thank you for your service.
Thank you, mike, appreciate it.
The training to get into
the cia was rigorous,
Lengthy and complex.
[ male voice over intercom ]
mayday, mayday, mayday...
But this dunk tank,
This was a completely
different experience.
Night stalkers undergo
grueling training
To prepare them
for the next mission.
The one where things could
go wrong.
That's exactly what happened
in afghanistan in 2005.
I'm meeting with a man
who was there, an army ranger
Who owes his life
to the night stalkers.
This is the first time he's
shared his story on camera.
So, tony, your first mission
was a real baptism by fire.
Operation red wings was one
that you prepare for,
But you hope never happens.
I think most people know that
From the "lone survivor" book
and the movie.
Correct, yeah.
Seal team got compromised,
160th tried to extract them.
The night stalkers.
The night stalkers.
A chinook helicopter
carrying eight seals
And eight night stalkers
Was sent to extract
four ambushed navy seals.
Knowing their comrades were
surrounded and severely wounded,
They chose to outrun
Their slower
army attack helicopter escort.
Without support or
the cover of night,
They were hit
by a rocket-propelled grenade
Killing all on board.
A bird going down is a big deal,
But a 160th bird going down,
to us, is like,
"you just shot my family."
So you didn't know what
the status was on the ground,
At that point at the crash site?
There was very little intel.
160th was doing their best to
try to figure out where we had
To bring the birds so that
we wouldn't lose another.
Baker: This is where their
training kicks in.
The night stalkers
are determined to succeed.
So despite an extremely
hazardous situation,
They get the assault team
into the best position
To effect a rescue.
They put us in a remote area,
trees 100 feet tall,
And they dropped a rope and
said, "you're getting out here."
And then the distance from
the drop to the target?
Couple miles,
and that was one indicator
Always of risk on a mission.
When they drop you
a couple miles out,
You know this one might be bad.
We were doing patrols
all over the mountain.
Because you're looking for
the team, right?
- You're looking for seals, yeah.
- We're looking for seals.
We're looking for
marcus luttrell,
'cause we wanted to make sure
that not only was he recovered,
His whole team was recovered,
and enemy in the area were gone.
And if they weren't gone,
we're gonna make them go away.
At that point where it
was wrapping up,
You're the last element
on the ground.
You hear the 160th
coming back for you.
Talk about that feeling.
Yeah, it was feeling of relief,
accomplishment, sadness.
Frankly, we wanted to get
out of there, we were done.
In the face of tragedy
and overwhelming obstacles,
The 160th lived up
to their motto...
"night stalkers don't quit."
Baker: Night stalker training
saves lives,
The exact reason
for their creation.
Missions like tony's
in afghanistan
And other overseas locations
Are what we associate with
the night stalkers,
But is it possible
they're preparing for missions
Much closer to home?
I've got some compelling
visual evidence.
The night stalkers
are as dark an operation
As any in the black files,
Keeping their technology and
their training well-guarded.
[ beeping ]
[ horn honks ]
It's no secret that america's
special forces personnel are
Tasked with carrying out a wide
range of tactical missions,
Including helicopter raids on
enemy-controlled towns
Or other well-defended
facilities.
America's silent professionals
Are asked to do their work
in secret, off the radar screen.
So it's very rare that
the public gets even a glimpse
Of the full force
of such a mission,
Even in training,
However, the next phase
of america's war on terrorism
Is being waged in
cities and urban environments.
Recently, several dozen videos
were posted to social media
That captured the night stalkers
Conducting realistic
urban training or rut
In some of our largest cities.
- Logan.
- Mike.
- It's good to see you.
- Good to see you.
Los angeles, right?
One of the most densely-packed
cities in the world,
And the 160th,
One of the most secretive groups
in the military,
Decides to do their
realistic urban training
In this environment.
Tell me about that.
All military units
love to train.
The better trained you are,
the more effective you are.
You want to get it as
realistic as possible.
One of the areas that thinks
they're going to be
Fighting soon is
what we call mega cities.
How do you conduct essentially
urban training out in the open
In an environment like this?
We try to give everyone
a heads up.
But you may have seen some
stuff flying around the internet
Because not everyone
got the memo.
Baker: On February 19, 2019,
Mh-6 little birds
and mh-60 black hawk helicopters
Buzz downtown los angeles
as part
Of a joint special operations
command training exercise.
Spectators watched, many
surprised, to say the least,
As choppers released troops
onto rooftops
And then later set down at
street level to pick them up.
If you look at
the night stalkers, right,
The 160th.
Everything they do is shrouded
in secrecy and mystery.
But here they are
out in the open,
So all military units they
have certain things that they
Want the enemy
to know they can do.
But then, when you get
to the most capable,
Most cutting edge
of the spear units,
Guys like the night stalkers,
you want to keep the limits
Of your capability as
possible secret.
It's really rare to get
an almost unfiltered look
At the night stalkers in action
Like we ended up seeing
in los angeles and new york,
Where they're flying through
thousands of civilians
With cameras on them.
Okay, well, let's see
some of those videos.
So these video on here,
These were shot
by people in los angeles.
- Oh, yeah, look, look at that.
- Yeah.
So this is one
of the 160th black hawks.
One of the easy ways to tell
Is that very few other
black hawks are going to
Have that fuel probe
that sticks off the front.
Urban warfare is
incredibly complex, right,
And completely different than
on the traditional battlefield.
So there is no replacement
for this type of training.
No, especially not when you
get on this scale.
But when you start
asking pilots, say,
"just come dive between these
streets," you know,
"just come fly past
these electrical wires."
It's impossible if they
haven't done very,
Very challenging training.
Blake: The training exercise
involved an undetermined number
Of choppers and troops.
In addition to maneuvering
through city streets
And between buildings,
The exercise included
inserting and extracting
Special operations forces
with pinpoint precision.
What sort of panic, or what
sort of chaos can that create?
It's actually panic
that can be good
For the guys going through
the training, because, remember,
They're not going to announce
when they show up.
If they have to hit a city
like tehran or shanghai
Or beijing.
There's no replacement for
this type of training,
And it has to be
out in the open.
But the money that allows them
to do the training,
That allows them to do their
job, that could be hidden.
Talk to me about that.
So units like the 160th
have a lot of different pots
That they can
request money from.
Some of these are overseas
contingency funds.
If I'm going to go
attack bin laden,
That's part
of the war in afghanistan.
I can request money
from that budget
And then use it
stateside for training,
Because I'm going
to be hitting a target
That effects afghanistan.
They have a lot of
"black in the blue" money,
Where it's
intelligence agency money
That gets moved
through the air force.
If you start drilling into
the numbers that are public.
There's some money missing...
The black files that
you're investigating.
These are
the kind of development
That money is used for.
Take the money to go train here,
And then you get that
return on investment of,
If you ever have to fight
somewhere else, you're safer.
You lose less aircraft.
Baker: Are the night stalkers
training for urban missions
In foreign countries or our own?
That question will likely
remain unanswered
Until it happens,
But the details
of the night stalkers'
Next-generation technology is
something I'm about to uncover.
The night stalkers elite unit
within the black files
Is critical
to any black op mission.
Flying at night at low altitudes
And at a moment's notice
anywhere in the world.
We've learned more about
the pilots,
Their training and the lessons
learned from the failures
And successes
of previous missions,
But in the high-tech world
of the black files,
There are always new secrets
to be revealed.
The pentagon's recent budget
proposal contains a curious,
Classified special operations
construction budget.
To me, now that sounds
like a dark site
Used to test and house
new stealth birds.
To get cutting-edge intel
On the future
of the night stalkers,
I've tracked down an aerospace
and defense specialist,
Who has spent years
Studying this remarkable
black file.
- Ed.
- Hey, how you doing?
I'm doing well, thanks.
Ed, over the years,
You've gained a tremendous
amount of insight
Into the 160th,
the night stalkers.
How have you come across
that expertise?
By being embedded
in afghanistan with marines
Who participated in
operation red wings.
So the future of the 160th is
something that I've been trying
To investigate, but very
difficult to gain any insight.
With the developments
in technology
And increasing use of
drones, as an example.
- Mm-hmm.
Do you see some sort
of capability
Where they can remove
the human element?
Absolutely,
they're doing that now.
The marine corps uses the k-max,
And they tested it and used it
operationally successfully
In the helmand province
of afghanistan.
Baker: The k-max is a helicopter
with intermeshing rotors,
A set of two rotors
turning in opposite directions.
This allows the craft to
function without a tail rotor,
Which saves power.
The k-max is designed for
external cargo load operations,
Able to lift
more than 6000 pounds.
An unmanned version
with remote control
Had been utilized
in extended service
During the war in afghanistan.
Recently, I've been
interviewing some pilots
And army aviation,
and they told me
That the f-model chinook,
it could fly itself,
I assume, including the use of
artificial intelligence?
I didn't discuss that
with the pilots,
But speculating that
that will come to play,
Maybe not specific
just to the platform,
But in the bigger picture,
But if they're hauling
around people,
They want someone
in the cockpit.
Over the next decade or so,
The government is planning
to spend billions of dollars
On new prototype helicopters
Designed to fly faster
and be more maneuverable.
Specific goals
are increasing top speed
From 200 to 350 miles per hour,
increasing range,
Having the ability to perform
at higher altitudes
And improve low-speed
maneuverability,
Useful in urban situations.
In addition, there reportedly
is work on new weapons systems,
Though there's no available
information on specifics.
Ed, talk to me about what
obstacles the next generation
Of stealth black hawks
may have to overcome?
The next series of obstacles
For any type of aircraft...
Helicopter or jet, or whatever,
Has to do with
the potential adversaries'
Technological development to
counter what we have.
For instance, china or russia
may foresee that
We can defeat a certain type
of radar system that they have.
We figure out how to defeat
those radar systems,
And then they try to defeat
our capability
To defeat their radar system
by making changes
To that system
or making a better one.
So there's a great deal
of gaming in the scenario,
And then we're always
essentially in a simplistic way,
Trying to stay one step ahead?
2, 3, 4, 5, 10 steps ahead.
-Ideally,
-ideally, yeah, yeah.
[ beeping ]
Baker: New stealth choppers
in development
Include the bell helicopter
v-280 valor tilt-rotor,
With various fuselage
contour constructions.
To make the craft
less targetable,
The u.S. Army is developing
several future vertical lift
Or fvl military helicopters
to replace the black hawk,
Apache, chinook, and kiowas,
And of course,
There are other projects
deeper into the black files
For which no information
is currently available.
With countless clandestine
missions, such as the raids
On isis in syria
or surgical strikes in libya,
The future of american covert
warfare remains dependent
On the elite flying forces
of the night stalkers.
These highly-specialized
aviators are truly
At the tip of the spear
in our constant fight
Against global terrorism.
The 160th special operation
aviation regiment will continue
To operate in the shadows,
Using top secret
technology for some
Of the most dangerous missions
on earth,
And if they have their way,
You won't hear a word about it.
Their lethal motto is true.
"death waits in the dark."
The united states
has conducted an operation
That killed osama bin laden.
...Reveals a shadowy group...
I'm under a heavy
disclosure agreement,
So I'm not gonna get into that.
...With top secret technology.
Start, clear!
They're not going to announce
when they show up.
Baker: Is their next
mission in a major u.S. City?
[ over radio ]
0-9-8 purple, we have a splash.
Stand by for pta.
[ beeping ]
Baker: Every year,
more than $90 billion
Is allocated to
clandestine government programs
Collectively called
the black budget.
Each individual operation
is a black file.
I'm mike baker.
As a covert
cia operations officer
For over a decade and a half,
I supervised missions
around the globe.
My security clearances
gave me access
To many classified projects.
Now I'm following
the money trail
To the secrets hidden inside
the black files.
Within the black files is
a storied group of army aviators
From the 160th special
operations aviation regiment,
Known as the night stalkers.
Their mission?
Nighttime air support
for some of the most dangerous
And clandestine attack
and reconnaissance operations
Under the black budget.
Most of what we know about
them is shrouded in mystery,
But we did get some unexpected
insight on may 2, 2012.
That's when president
barack obama declared...
The united states
has conducted an operation
That killed osama bin laden,
The leader of al qaeda.
The black file operation
to take out osama bin laden,
The taliban leader responsible
for the 9-11 attacks,
Was known as neptune's spear.
During the nighttime raid,
One of the sikorsky
uh-60 black hawks,
Carrying the seal team,
Crash landed
in bin laden's compound.
Within minutes, news of
the black op in pakistan
Raced across the globe.
Soon after, photos
of the crash-landed remains
Of the helicopter surfaced.
U.S. Government officials
reported that seal team members
Blew up the chopper,
Hoping to keep the
technology secret,
But this tail rotor survived,
Intriguing aviation experts
around the world
Who believed
it's specially modified.
What can the night
stalker black file
Reveal about this
stealth technology?
There are very few people
to turn to
For information about
the night stalkers.
One of them is
an investigative journalist
Who gained the military's trust
After being embedded with them
for months in afghanistan.
[ beeping ]
[ car horns honking ]
Shawn, talk to me about
the origin
And the evolution
of the night stalkers.
The night stalkers were formed
as a reaction to
The failure of the iran
hostage rescue mission in 1980.
Baker: Operation eagle claw
was ordered by president carter
To rescue 52 americans
held hostage in iran.
Technical problems
in a sandstorm
Compromise several craft
and the mission was canceled.
As the force withdrew,
A chopper crashed
into a transport.
There was an explosion.
Eight service members died,
and america was humiliated.
So in an effort to avoid
anything like that
Happening again,
The night stalkers were created
To be that no-fail organization.
So fast forward three decades,
And you have the planning for
operation neptune's spear.
As we now know,
they crash landed.
One of the stealth black hawks
in the compound,
Due to the extraordinary skill
of the pilot
That was handling
that black hawk,
Nobody was hurt,
And the mission was
nonetheless a success.
Baker: The night stalkers
Have pioneered
night flight techniques,
And evolved into the premier
helicopter pilots
In the military.
They fly the mh-60,
the mh-47g chinook
And the mh-6 little bird.
The night stalkers importance
is reflected by their commanding
25% of the military's
aviation budget,
$5 billion annually.
[ beeping ]
I know more about the formation
of the night stalkers now,
But I still need to know
why the helicopter crashed
During the bin laden raid,
And details about the tail rotor
stealth technology.
I'm hoping to learn about that,
When I meet with
an actual night stalker.
Look at that.
I mean, you're used to looking
at that, but that's impressive.
Uh, as is your resume,
by the way,
Nine years with the seals,
and then you join
One of the most secretive units
within the military.
The night stalkers, the 160th.
What's the top-line mission?
The whole purpose
Of the 160th special operations
aviation regiment,
No matter
what aircraft we're flying,
Is to take our customers,
all the top-tier salters
In the united states military
And to put them
any place on the earth,
Plus or minus 30 seconds.
In any weather conditions,
any combat conditions,
Any environmental impacts,
to get them on that spot,
Where they asked to,
no fail, every single time.
Baker: Those missions include
the liberation of panama,
The 2001 invasion
of afghanistan,
Many engagements in operations
desert shield and desert storm,
And since 9-11,
continuous combat operations
Around the world.
What was that like when
you started training
For nighttime operations?
Well, when you start
flying at night,
That changes everything,
Because it's an unnatural
environment for a pilot.
Not being able to
see is... is unnatural.
Now, we've got the technology
to mitigate that,
But on average, a night stalker,
You'll fly 50-60%
of your total flight hours
Over career at nighttime.
You live in the nighttime,
and when you deploy,
Strictly nighttime flying,
you may never see the daylight
In a 60 or 90 day deployment.
Baker: Mike is one
of the very few
To become a night stalker pilot.
He's also one of the very few
to know the intricacies
Of the incredible technology
That makes these choppers
unique,
Some of which I'm hoping
he'll share with me.
On 160th black hawks,
they've got a lot of pods,
A lot of stuff
sticking out of it.
One of them is the mmr,
or the multi-mode radar,
Which allows a pilot
to actually fly
In terrain flights
in 0/0 visibility,
Meaning can't see outside
the cockpit in a cloud,
In a dust cloud,
whatever the case may be,
And you're flying off
instrument cues,
Which... which allows,
once you're there,
The aircraft to infill targets
Where you just...
You can't see what you're doing.
So you have no visibility,
-no visibility.
Visual cues and how far
off the ground are you?
Down to about 100 feet.
You know, in reality,
The machines are not
the limitation of the missions,
It's the pilot.
Baker: So given all of this
cutting-edge technology,
Does that mean it was pilot
error and equipment issue
Or something else
that brought down the black hawk
In operation neptune's spear?
The bin laden raid,
abbottabad...
To the degree that you can
talk about it,
The technology that was used
to create that stealth ability
For those assets that went in...
How much would that have
Affected the way
that those helicopters flew?
And honestly, you know,
I'm under
a heavy disclosure agreement,
So I'm not gonna get into that.
But... but you can bet
That the helicopter
was vastly different enough
That there was a significant
amount of training.
Pilots of any skill level
didn't just hop in it
And go fly.
So they were training as much
on the helicopter
As they were
for the mission itself.
But obviously
it was a unique airframe.
I gotta tell you, mike,
I don't impress necessarily
all that easily
After all these years.
But I'm super impressed
with you, with your career,
Everything you chose to do
for this country, thank you.
It was my pleasure,
my pleasure being on the show.
Thanks.
I appreciate that mike's
operational security
Won't allow him to go deeper
Into the night stalkers'
technology.
So I have to find
another way in.
That may be by taking on one
of the most dangerous aspects
Of the night stalkers,
flying under the cover of dark.
In my quest to track down
the top secret technology
Behind the night stalker
black file,
[ beeping ]
I'm headed to waco, texas.
Adam aldous
of night flight concepts
Teaches the elite in government
and the military
To fly under
dangerous conditions at night.
How do the elite pilots
of the 160th
Navigate the night skies?
And what sort of specialized
technology makes it possible?
Well, I'm about to find out.
Seatbelts fastened on the right.
Seatbelts fastened on the right.
Fuel valve switch is on,
guard is closed
Altimeter set to
field elevation.
All right, mike, you ready?
All good.
Check, start, clear!
[ helicopter powers up ]
Now we're gonna start reversing.
[ indistinct radio chatter ]
Ready for takeoff.
[ helicopter whirring ]
Night vision goggles are on.
So, out of curiosity, adam,
How long did it take you to
get comfortable flying at night?
Not until you start doing it
for a while.
I mean, it's probably only took
300 hours, 400 hours,
Actually flying nvgs
before I was actually out there
Doing all
of the real cool stuff.
Baker: Night vision goggles,
or nvgs
Utilize a technology
called image enhancement.
When light particles
or photons enter the goggles,
They're converted into electrons
By a light-sensitive surface
called a photo cathode
And then multiplied
by the thousands.
Those electrons
hit a phosphor screen,
Which causes them to emit
tiny flashes of light,
Amplifying the brightness
of the scene.
Adam, what are
the biggest challenges
In doing nighttime operations?
You know, I think the biggest
challenge is just
Having more acuteness
to everything
That's going on around you.
You know, you probably
notice how much
I'm moving my head over here
Because I have such a limited
field of view
Compared to what I do
during the daytime.
But I have to build a
mental image,
You know, by continuously
moving in my head,
You know, so my brain can
kind of see what's going on.
Yeah.
If you're in
a hostile environment,
You're getting ready to
do a mission in the evening,
Is it more challenging
in an urban setting
Or in a rural setting?
You know, it really kind of
depends on what you're doing.
They both have their challenges.
Blake:
Challenges is the key word.
What I'm experiencing right now
Is without the added challenges
of weather, incoming fire
And holding position
to let passengers on or off.
Lights on.
Request permission to put
my check ready for landing.
Well I gotta tell you, adam
thank you very much, man.
Oh, you're welcome, mike,
thank you.
♪
Baker: To become fully
mission qualified,
Night stalker pilots must fly
hundreds of hours on top of
Thousands of hours they have
from prior training.
So given they're some of
the best pilots on the planet,
I'm curious as to why
one of the choppers
Crashed in the bin laden
compound.
[ beeping ]
I'm in washington, d.C.
To put that question
to a man who's hard-wired
Into the world of
black files aviation.
Jim childs was one of
the first to recognize
That the wreckage
from the bin laden compound
Was unlike anything
that we'd seen before.
♪
What did you think
when you saw those?
It raised some questions
in my mind.
One question that I had looking
at the tail rotor picture is
Why wasn't it
all broken into pieces?
Because normally in
a helicopter accident,
The tail rotor,
if it hits something,
Just gets completely shredded.
Baker: The tail section drew
a lot of attention
From military analysts
and aviation experts
Who observed the unusual
configuration of the rear rotor,
The curious housing
around the gearbox
Believed to be noise-reducing,
and the smooth tail fin
Coated in a material
thought to absorb radar waves.
It's possible that the housing
also protected the rotor,
Answering jim's question about
why it didn't break on impact.
I guess a couple things
struck me.
One, of course, was the
disc, which,
Apparently there to shield
all that gearing and the hub
Of the tail rotor from radar.
The other thing.
It looked to me like
a scissor rotor.
It's not symmetrical.
It's actually more of,
like a flattened x.
You can cut the acoustic
signature of the tail rotor,
Which is a pretty
penetrating noise.
So you know that's...
It fits with a stealth,
Because stealth is more than
just radar.
It's a whole approach.
And had you seen something
like this before,
Though, talking about the nature
of this tail rotor
And the stealth concept?
Well, the stealth concept had,
in fact,
There's some information here
from 1978
That wasn't generally known
until after the raid.
Baker: This report outlines
how engineers
Could turn a uh-60 black hawk
into a stealth flying machine,
Focusing on two key elements.
Reshaping the aircraft
and making it quieter.
The way stealth works,
It's a whole mix of things.
It's the shape
Of how the little plates
fasten together.
It's the shape
of the leading edges.
It's the shape
of the whole aircraft.
It's the... the coating,
The low observable coating.
What's your understanding
As to why that helicopter
went down?
Well, the common wisdom is
That it was
marginal in performance.
The altitude there
is 1200 meters.
It was a warm night,
may 1, may 2.
And so what can happen
if you're in a tailwind
And then you've got all this
turbulence coming up
From the compound,
but then down it goes.
All right.
And it would not
surprise you, then,
If there is
a black budget somewhere
Funding the development
of the next generation
Of stealth black hawk?
I'm sure there is.
[ beeping ]
Baker: I've sent a copy of
the documents jim gave me
To good friend and scientist,
ben mcgee.
I'm hoping he could shed
more light
On the stealth technology
from the schematics.
♪
Good to see you.
Good to see you.
So stealth technology,
What were you able to figure out
From those documents
and the schematics
That I sent you?
There wasn't a whole lot
of technical information
I could pull out of that.
But I know they were making
modifications to the fuselage,
And it ultimately boils down
to working on
What we would think of as
traditional stealth technology.
It's interesting,
because when people...
Most people are familiar with
the term, right?
- Yeah.
- Stealth technology,
But I think they always
assume it means,
"okay, we're gonna make this
helicopter completely silent,"
- Right?
- Yeah, no, no.
It's gonna snake in, snake out.
We're talking about radar.
Yeah, usually, I mean the bulk
of stealth technology is radar.
Now there are things you can do
to make aircraft quieter.
Mm-hmm.
There are things you could do
to try and reduce
Its heat signature.
But the greatest threat that
stealth is trying to address
Is the radar,
it is radio, and why?
Because it travels
So much farther
than everything else.
You're going to see
something in radio
Way before you're gonna hear it,
And way before you're gonna
see its heat signature.
Radio waves are a color
of light that we can't see.
They travel farther.
That's why they're good
at reaching out
And bouncing off
of an enemy aircraft.
So the way that radar works...
Radar stands for
radio detection and ranging...
Is you basically emit
a really bright flash
Of radio light,
And you watch for a reflection
back off of, say, an aircraft,
Like a helicopter, an airplane.
This is not at all unlike,
I mean,
The physics are identical
to using ordinary light.
So this is a regular flashlight,
- And, yeah.
- Okay.
Here I have a signal mirror,
And this is gonna represent
invisible light
What's actually happening in
radio with stealth technology.
Now imagine that this signal
mirror is the side of this.
I mean, we're using this
black hawk helicopter.
It's not stealth modified,
but that actually works for us.
This model here, um, so you see,
The side of this is actually
very flat, so when I hold...
I'm assuming I'm what?
Playing the role
of the radar station?
You are now the bad guy.
Okay, radar is on.
Yeah, so, as you can see,
you are shining a radio signal.
It's bouncing off the side
of this
Thing and coming
straight back to you.
Right, I'm getting a signature.
You got it.
- It's on my screen.
- Yep.
I'm letting the missiles go.
Yep, that's exactly right.
- This guy's toast.
- Mm-hmm.
So one of the ideas of stealth
is to actually
Take the engineering of this
aircraft and add angles to it,
So that instead of bouncing
back to you, you can see now
That this signal's
being essentially
Bounced back into space.
And so it's never coming back
down to the ground where anyone
Could see it,
and that's why stealth aircraft,
Stealth craft of any kind,
we tend to all recognize
That angles,
very steep dramatic angles,
Are part of stealth technology.
So that's one,
that's the deflection, right?
And then the other
opportunity is to what?
You got it.
Well, you can either then...
You either deflect
Or you change the material
that this is made of
To literally absorb radio waves.
So you see how now
the backside of this mirror
Is a very dark material
in regular light.
So you see,
there's literally almost no...
Right.
I mean you could argue
maybe just a trace glow,
But no clear reflection
coming back to you.
And this would be the materials
angle of stealth.
Thank you, ben.
Good information. Great.
- Yep, take it easy.
- Thank you.
Baker: Jim childs and ben
offer important insights
Into how a scissor rotor,
material contours
And absorbable coating
are some of the many parts
That all fit together
To help minimize
the stealth hawk signature.
Those are important facets
of this black file,
But machines need highly
trained men and women
To make their incredibly
dangerous mission successful.
How do these black ops train
for the unexpected?
Well, I'm about to find out.
[ indistinct voice on intercom ]
[ beeping ]
Night stalker technology
Has shed light on why
a chopper crashed
During the bin laden raid,
and how the 160th stays hidden
During dangerous
nighttime raids.
Now I'd like to learn how they
prepare for their missions.
I'm headed out to
groton, connecticut,
To visit a top night stalker
training facility.
[ beeping ]
My guide is
a former night stalker
Who's been through
their top secret training
And knows firsthand
about the dangers they face.
What does it take to become
a night stalker?
I went straight into
a selection process
That 160th has
known as green platoon.
This is a five-week-long
selection process,
And it's set in place to weed
out the guys who can't make it
Into the unit past selection.
Baker: Green platoon is an
extremely demanding program
That teaches basic soldiering,
combat and weapons skills.
It's capped off by black day,
The specifics
of which are classified,
But it's infamous for
Forcing some out of the program.
Those who make it through
receive up to two years
Of additional training,
Including advanced programs
like air assault,
Seer... or survive, evade,
resist and escape,
And dunker school
To learn how to escape
from a sunken helicopter.
What about dunker school?
What was that like?
Nerve-racking.
When you're strapped
into a mock aircraft
In a confined space,
being dunked under a pool
And flipped upside down,
And you have to egress
on your own breath,
There's just something about it
That gets your nerves going,
I guess.
David, when I got here,
to get together with you,
I couldn't help but
notice there's a large pool
Here in the building.
You want to maybe
tell me something?
Yeah, mike, so we're here
today at survival systems,
Where they facilitate
and build the curriculum
For dunker school.
We're actually gonna go
get in the pool and get a taste
Of what it's like to go through
dunker school
To become a night stalker.
Really?
Yeah, are you excited?
I'm not sure if excited
is actually the word,
David, that I'm looking for.
I'm back to school.
Back to school.
Are you ready, mike?
Uh, ready for lunch,
Or what are we talking about
ready for?
One thing I learned
in government.
Never say, "yes, I'm ready,"
Until you know what
you're talking about.
All right, well, gentlemen,
my name is andrew kelly.
Thank you very much
for joining us
Here at survival systems usa.
Today, our objective
is to provide you
With the skills and knowledge
you'll need
To survive an aircraft ditching
With an emergency
breathing device.
All right, so
it should be a pretty fun day.
You guys excited?
Yeah.
Excellent, you look excited.
[ laughing ]
All right, guys,
So these are your
emergency breathing devices,
What we refer to as ebds.
These are what
you're gonna be using
To give you some air,
Give you the ability
to breathe underwater
And really focus on your egress,
all right?
So we're gonna talk about how to
safely implement these devices,
Make sure that we're not
suffering any of those
Compressed air injuries
that we talked about earlier.
Make sure we're using
them properly,
And they're gonna help us out
as need to egress our aircraft.
Baker: The training I'm about
to undergo is deadly serious.
Night stalker flights are
always in the danger zone,
And some have crashed
Under heavy fire at sea
With tragic consequences.
In 2002,
a night stalker flown chinook
Went down in the bohol strait
south of manila,
And in 2017, a black hawk
crashed off the coast of yemen.
This training gives the night
stalkers valuable experience
Of how to escape a downed
helicopter in the water.
♪
Now I'm about to train
The same way
the night stalkers do.
You ready?
Checking for all clear.
Clear.
All right, here we go.
In my quest to better understand
The elite group of
helicopter pilots,
Legendary even within
the black ops world,
I've gotten myself into an
interesting training exercise.
Are you guys ready to go?
Yeah, absolutely.
Go ahead.
Do you wanna...?
Okay.
No you go first, dude.
I'm about to submerge myself
in a cockpit underwater.
Is there one luckier
than the others?
As long as you complete
the day successfully,
It becomes lucky.
I'm actually feeling
somewhat trepidatious.
I don't know if that's a word.
All kidding aside, I suspect
this training exercise
Is about to bring back some
bad memories.
During a three week rafting
trip down the colorado river,
A raft are was on flipped in
a particularly bad rapid,
And I almost drowned.
Of all the crap I've done
over the years.
Uh, you know,
all the places I've been,
And for the work I used to do,
That was the single most
frightening moment of my life,
Bar-none.
♪
Okay, time to do this.
First up, a simple jump.
So here's what we're gonna do.
You want to look below you.
Make sure that there's
no obstructions,
There's no obstacles
in your way.
You want to stare directly
out towards the horizon.
You ready?
Checking for all clear.
Clear.
All right, here we go.
Jumping off a platform
is not exactly rocket science,
But you have to do it right,
And imagine if you're in
those conditions, right?
You compound that,
And it's suddenly a much more
difficult process.
Next, we have to try and
escape the sweat chair.
These initial experiences are
all building up
Towards an actual simulated
chopper crash.
Instructor: So, on your first run
here, you're gonna cross your arms.
You're gonna hear, "ditching,
ditching, ditching."
We're gonna invert you,
bottom motion stops.
You wanna sit up out of that
brace so you get the head back.
You want out this exit here,
So you wanna take
your outboard hand,
Put you on a reference
off of your body,
Find that exit, there you go.
Once you get your hand there,
All right, just push straight
out, grab the exit frame,
And with your inboard hand here,
Come down, find that dial.
All right, pull yourself out
nice and easy.
[ sighs ]
All right, let's give it a go.
Ditching, ditching, ditching.
[ draws breath in ]
♪
♪
Good job, stand up.
[ claps ]
Yeah I mean, as long as you
keep your... your head about you
You remember exactly
what they tell you,
These guys know exactly
what they're doing.
So, you know, the points are
all very logical.
I think that the key is just
staying calm,
And not necessarily focusing
on anything else.
Instructor: Now pull yourself
in, get yourself strapped in
Just like you were before.
Okay, I'm good.
Now on this one, the exit's
on the other side,
And you're gonna wear these
blacked-out goggles.
That's interesting.
Yeah, because
when you're underwater,
You're probably not going
to be able to see any way.
Keep your eyes closed,
You're replacing
that vision with feel,
With the reference points,
all right?
And this is just gonna
keep you honest.
Ditching, ditching, ditching.
[ draws breath in ]
♪
Good job.
Stand up.
I'll get those goggles back.
Good job.
Did you push the window out
while it was rolling?
- Or did that just pop out?
- No, I was waiting, yeah.
No, it stopped before.
I was like, "man, mike is not
playing around,
He's gotta get outta there."
Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking,
"ahh... Let's go!"
Instructor: Okay, guys, so you
just got your introduction to egress
In the sweat chair,
now what we're gonna do
Is we're going to get
into the mets.
Baker: The mets is a full scale
helicopter frame,
Which simulates the experience
and difficulties
Of a crash at sea.
Instructor: All right, guys.
So here's what's gonna happen.
You're gonna hear me say,
"ditching, ditching, dishing,"
At which point the simulator
is going to begin to lower
And submerge into the water.
Upon that ditching call,
You want to get into
a good brace position.
When the violent motion stops,
you going to sit up,
Use a reference point
to locate your exit.
Clear your exit.
While you're
holding on to the exit frame,
Your inboard hand can come down,
undo that rubbery buckle,
And you can pull yourself out
to the surface.
Sounds good.
- All right.
- Got it.
- Good deal.
- Awesome.
All right, let's do it.
[ buttons beeping ]
[ male voice over intercom ]
mayday, mayday, mayday!
This is breach 918,
58 degrees north,
134 degrees west.
[ alarm beeps ]
Heading 302,
repeat, this is breach 918.
Mayday, mayday, mayday!
Ditching, ditching, ditching.
Aside from staying calm,
not an easy thing to do,
It's critical
to keep your orientation,
So that even in pitch black
and upside down,
You still know which way
to head out.
♪
The key here is you just gotta
keep training.
That's what these guys do,
whether it's 160th.
Or any other spec ops.
They just...
If you're not doing
your training,
Because at some point that
muscle memory is gonna kick in
When everything else
is heading south
And that's what you have
to rely on.
In my old job,
If you were in the water,
something was going wrong,
Badly,
but I actually honestly wish
That we had had this training,
And to be honest, one thing
I'll mention to the old outfit
After all this is done,
Is they should incorporate
some of this.
David, I gotta tell you,
I wasn't sure what to make
Of the invite
to spend a day in dunker school,
But I wouldn't have missed it
for the world.
It was a brilliant bit
of insight.
A small look at what
you had to go through,
What all the folks
in the 160th and others
Have to go through
to keep this country safe,
And I just want to say
thank you for your service.
Thank you, mike, appreciate it.
The training to get into
the cia was rigorous,
Lengthy and complex.
[ male voice over intercom ]
mayday, mayday, mayday...
But this dunk tank,
This was a completely
different experience.
Night stalkers undergo
grueling training
To prepare them
for the next mission.
The one where things could
go wrong.
That's exactly what happened
in afghanistan in 2005.
I'm meeting with a man
who was there, an army ranger
Who owes his life
to the night stalkers.
This is the first time he's
shared his story on camera.
So, tony, your first mission
was a real baptism by fire.
Operation red wings was one
that you prepare for,
But you hope never happens.
I think most people know that
From the "lone survivor" book
and the movie.
Correct, yeah.
Seal team got compromised,
160th tried to extract them.
The night stalkers.
The night stalkers.
A chinook helicopter
carrying eight seals
And eight night stalkers
Was sent to extract
four ambushed navy seals.
Knowing their comrades were
surrounded and severely wounded,
They chose to outrun
Their slower
army attack helicopter escort.
Without support or
the cover of night,
They were hit
by a rocket-propelled grenade
Killing all on board.
A bird going down is a big deal,
But a 160th bird going down,
to us, is like,
"you just shot my family."
So you didn't know what
the status was on the ground,
At that point at the crash site?
There was very little intel.
160th was doing their best to
try to figure out where we had
To bring the birds so that
we wouldn't lose another.
Baker: This is where their
training kicks in.
The night stalkers
are determined to succeed.
So despite an extremely
hazardous situation,
They get the assault team
into the best position
To effect a rescue.
They put us in a remote area,
trees 100 feet tall,
And they dropped a rope and
said, "you're getting out here."
And then the distance from
the drop to the target?
Couple miles,
and that was one indicator
Always of risk on a mission.
When they drop you
a couple miles out,
You know this one might be bad.
We were doing patrols
all over the mountain.
Because you're looking for
the team, right?
- You're looking for seals, yeah.
- We're looking for seals.
We're looking for
marcus luttrell,
'cause we wanted to make sure
that not only was he recovered,
His whole team was recovered,
and enemy in the area were gone.
And if they weren't gone,
we're gonna make them go away.
At that point where it
was wrapping up,
You're the last element
on the ground.
You hear the 160th
coming back for you.
Talk about that feeling.
Yeah, it was feeling of relief,
accomplishment, sadness.
Frankly, we wanted to get
out of there, we were done.
In the face of tragedy
and overwhelming obstacles,
The 160th lived up
to their motto...
"night stalkers don't quit."
Baker: Night stalker training
saves lives,
The exact reason
for their creation.
Missions like tony's
in afghanistan
And other overseas locations
Are what we associate with
the night stalkers,
But is it possible
they're preparing for missions
Much closer to home?
I've got some compelling
visual evidence.
The night stalkers
are as dark an operation
As any in the black files,
Keeping their technology and
their training well-guarded.
[ beeping ]
[ horn honks ]
It's no secret that america's
special forces personnel are
Tasked with carrying out a wide
range of tactical missions,
Including helicopter raids on
enemy-controlled towns
Or other well-defended
facilities.
America's silent professionals
Are asked to do their work
in secret, off the radar screen.
So it's very rare that
the public gets even a glimpse
Of the full force
of such a mission,
Even in training,
However, the next phase
of america's war on terrorism
Is being waged in
cities and urban environments.
Recently, several dozen videos
were posted to social media
That captured the night stalkers
Conducting realistic
urban training or rut
In some of our largest cities.
- Logan.
- Mike.
- It's good to see you.
- Good to see you.
Los angeles, right?
One of the most densely-packed
cities in the world,
And the 160th,
One of the most secretive groups
in the military,
Decides to do their
realistic urban training
In this environment.
Tell me about that.
All military units
love to train.
The better trained you are,
the more effective you are.
You want to get it as
realistic as possible.
One of the areas that thinks
they're going to be
Fighting soon is
what we call mega cities.
How do you conduct essentially
urban training out in the open
In an environment like this?
We try to give everyone
a heads up.
But you may have seen some
stuff flying around the internet
Because not everyone
got the memo.
Baker: On February 19, 2019,
Mh-6 little birds
and mh-60 black hawk helicopters
Buzz downtown los angeles
as part
Of a joint special operations
command training exercise.
Spectators watched, many
surprised, to say the least,
As choppers released troops
onto rooftops
And then later set down at
street level to pick them up.
If you look at
the night stalkers, right,
The 160th.
Everything they do is shrouded
in secrecy and mystery.
But here they are
out in the open,
So all military units they
have certain things that they
Want the enemy
to know they can do.
But then, when you get
to the most capable,
Most cutting edge
of the spear units,
Guys like the night stalkers,
you want to keep the limits
Of your capability as
possible secret.
It's really rare to get
an almost unfiltered look
At the night stalkers in action
Like we ended up seeing
in los angeles and new york,
Where they're flying through
thousands of civilians
With cameras on them.
Okay, well, let's see
some of those videos.
So these video on here,
These were shot
by people in los angeles.
- Oh, yeah, look, look at that.
- Yeah.
So this is one
of the 160th black hawks.
One of the easy ways to tell
Is that very few other
black hawks are going to
Have that fuel probe
that sticks off the front.
Urban warfare is
incredibly complex, right,
And completely different than
on the traditional battlefield.
So there is no replacement
for this type of training.
No, especially not when you
get on this scale.
But when you start
asking pilots, say,
"just come dive between these
streets," you know,
"just come fly past
these electrical wires."
It's impossible if they
haven't done very,
Very challenging training.
Blake: The training exercise
involved an undetermined number
Of choppers and troops.
In addition to maneuvering
through city streets
And between buildings,
The exercise included
inserting and extracting
Special operations forces
with pinpoint precision.
What sort of panic, or what
sort of chaos can that create?
It's actually panic
that can be good
For the guys going through
the training, because, remember,
They're not going to announce
when they show up.
If they have to hit a city
like tehran or shanghai
Or beijing.
There's no replacement for
this type of training,
And it has to be
out in the open.
But the money that allows them
to do the training,
That allows them to do their
job, that could be hidden.
Talk to me about that.
So units like the 160th
have a lot of different pots
That they can
request money from.
Some of these are overseas
contingency funds.
If I'm going to go
attack bin laden,
That's part
of the war in afghanistan.
I can request money
from that budget
And then use it
stateside for training,
Because I'm going
to be hitting a target
That effects afghanistan.
They have a lot of
"black in the blue" money,
Where it's
intelligence agency money
That gets moved
through the air force.
If you start drilling into
the numbers that are public.
There's some money missing...
The black files that
you're investigating.
These are
the kind of development
That money is used for.
Take the money to go train here,
And then you get that
return on investment of,
If you ever have to fight
somewhere else, you're safer.
You lose less aircraft.
Baker: Are the night stalkers
training for urban missions
In foreign countries or our own?
That question will likely
remain unanswered
Until it happens,
But the details
of the night stalkers'
Next-generation technology is
something I'm about to uncover.
The night stalkers elite unit
within the black files
Is critical
to any black op mission.
Flying at night at low altitudes
And at a moment's notice
anywhere in the world.
We've learned more about
the pilots,
Their training and the lessons
learned from the failures
And successes
of previous missions,
But in the high-tech world
of the black files,
There are always new secrets
to be revealed.
The pentagon's recent budget
proposal contains a curious,
Classified special operations
construction budget.
To me, now that sounds
like a dark site
Used to test and house
new stealth birds.
To get cutting-edge intel
On the future
of the night stalkers,
I've tracked down an aerospace
and defense specialist,
Who has spent years
Studying this remarkable
black file.
- Ed.
- Hey, how you doing?
I'm doing well, thanks.
Ed, over the years,
You've gained a tremendous
amount of insight
Into the 160th,
the night stalkers.
How have you come across
that expertise?
By being embedded
in afghanistan with marines
Who participated in
operation red wings.
So the future of the 160th is
something that I've been trying
To investigate, but very
difficult to gain any insight.
With the developments
in technology
And increasing use of
drones, as an example.
- Mm-hmm.
Do you see some sort
of capability
Where they can remove
the human element?
Absolutely,
they're doing that now.
The marine corps uses the k-max,
And they tested it and used it
operationally successfully
In the helmand province
of afghanistan.
Baker: The k-max is a helicopter
with intermeshing rotors,
A set of two rotors
turning in opposite directions.
This allows the craft to
function without a tail rotor,
Which saves power.
The k-max is designed for
external cargo load operations,
Able to lift
more than 6000 pounds.
An unmanned version
with remote control
Had been utilized
in extended service
During the war in afghanistan.
Recently, I've been
interviewing some pilots
And army aviation,
and they told me
That the f-model chinook,
it could fly itself,
I assume, including the use of
artificial intelligence?
I didn't discuss that
with the pilots,
But speculating that
that will come to play,
Maybe not specific
just to the platform,
But in the bigger picture,
But if they're hauling
around people,
They want someone
in the cockpit.
Over the next decade or so,
The government is planning
to spend billions of dollars
On new prototype helicopters
Designed to fly faster
and be more maneuverable.
Specific goals
are increasing top speed
From 200 to 350 miles per hour,
increasing range,
Having the ability to perform
at higher altitudes
And improve low-speed
maneuverability,
Useful in urban situations.
In addition, there reportedly
is work on new weapons systems,
Though there's no available
information on specifics.
Ed, talk to me about what
obstacles the next generation
Of stealth black hawks
may have to overcome?
The next series of obstacles
For any type of aircraft...
Helicopter or jet, or whatever,
Has to do with
the potential adversaries'
Technological development to
counter what we have.
For instance, china or russia
may foresee that
We can defeat a certain type
of radar system that they have.
We figure out how to defeat
those radar systems,
And then they try to defeat
our capability
To defeat their radar system
by making changes
To that system
or making a better one.
So there's a great deal
of gaming in the scenario,
And then we're always
essentially in a simplistic way,
Trying to stay one step ahead?
2, 3, 4, 5, 10 steps ahead.
-Ideally,
-ideally, yeah, yeah.
[ beeping ]
Baker: New stealth choppers
in development
Include the bell helicopter
v-280 valor tilt-rotor,
With various fuselage
contour constructions.
To make the craft
less targetable,
The u.S. Army is developing
several future vertical lift
Or fvl military helicopters
to replace the black hawk,
Apache, chinook, and kiowas,
And of course,
There are other projects
deeper into the black files
For which no information
is currently available.
With countless clandestine
missions, such as the raids
On isis in syria
or surgical strikes in libya,
The future of american covert
warfare remains dependent
On the elite flying forces
of the night stalkers.
These highly-specialized
aviators are truly
At the tip of the spear
in our constant fight
Against global terrorism.
The 160th special operation
aviation regiment will continue
To operate in the shadows,
Using top secret
technology for some
Of the most dangerous missions
on earth,
And if they have their way,
You won't hear a word about it.
Their lethal motto is true.
"death waits in the dark."