Crashed Black Hawk Chopper Was on ‘Doomsday’ Mission to Protect US Officials

The helicopter involved in the collision with a passenger jet was flying a training mission over an area that lies at the heart of a rarely discussed military operation to get senior officials to safety in the event of an attack on the U.S., according to the officials.

The military operation is termed "continuity of government" and "continuity of operations" and aims to preserve the ability of the U.S. government to function.

The crews carry out this type of operation almost every day, transporting VIPs around Washington, a city buzzing with helicopter traffic.

Also Read: Rashmika Mandanna Teaches Vicky Kaushal Telugu at Chhaava Event | Watch Video

But U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth mentioned the link of the Black Hawk crew to the mission while addressing a White House conference on Thursday, stating they "were on a routine, annual re-training of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission."

Such missions, however, are rarely publicly discussed.

The three soldiers who perished in the collision were part of the 12th Aviation Battalion stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. In a national emergency, these soldiers have the duty of incumbent Pentagon officials' evacuations. The other 64 individuals died on the passenger plane.

Using night-vision goggles, the Black Hawk crew carried out a training mission along the Potomac River following a route called 4, with the irony being that since the Army was under serious scrutiny for working the night near a busy airport, officials were attributing the sensitive nature of these operations to this battalion.

This mission, the last known activation of continuity of operations for the U.S. government in times of an emergency, was triggered on September 11, 2001, when approximately 3,000 people were killed as al-Qaeda hijackers flew airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon.

Certain operational details of the 12th Aviation Battalion that day are in the province of the domain reached by Reuters.

The battalion assisted in transporting senior personnel out of Washington, D.C., to 'hide sites,' said Bradley Bowman, a former Army aviation officer who served aboard during the 9/11 incident as part of the 12th Aviation Battalion.

Also Read: Deva Box Office Collection Day 1: Shahid Kapoor, Pooja Hegde Film Opens at ₹10 Crore Worldwide

That evening, with a Black Hawk helicopter, Bowman flew to one of those sites, retrieving then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and returning him to the Pentagon.

But there was one little hitch: the helicopter landing pad at the Pentagon to pick up and drop off VIPs had been destroyed.

"We just repositioned and landed in the traffic circle of 395, which had been closed by that point," Bowman said, explaining I-395 highway that loops around the U.S. military headquarters.

Wolfowitz was quoted in a book from 2017, describing a trip to a "bizarre location that was prepared to survive nuclear war."

According to the book's author, Garrett Graff, the location was known as the Raven Rock Mountain Complex, or"Site R," which is just a few miles from Camp David and is one of three main backup facilities for the U.S. government and the principal one for Pentagon leadership.

Also Read: Mere Husband Ki Biwi Trailer: Bhumi Pednekar & Rakul Preet Singh Fight for Arjun Kapoor in a Love Triangle