US Chinook downed by RPG strike

Published on Friday 14 October 2011 00:04

US military investigators have concluded that the Chinook helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed 30 American troops in August was caused by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) that hit the rear rotor, causing the aircraft to fall vertically to the ground and burst into flames.

The crash on 6 August was the deadliest single incident for US forces in the decade-long war and the Taleban claimed responsibility. No-one survived the crash in Tangi Valley, about 60 miles south-west of Kabul.

“A previously undetected group of suspected Taleban fighters fired two or three RPGs in rapid succession from a two-story building approximately 220 meters south” of the aircraft, said the official report. “The first RPG missed the helicopter, but the second RPG struck the aft rotor assembly and exploded.”

The report said that after the rotor was hit, the helicopter spun violently and crashed in a dry river bed where it was engulfed in flames. The fire triggered several explosions of fuel and munitions.

Among those killed were 17 Navy SEALs, five naval special operations personnel, three air force special tactics airmen, an army helicopter crew of five, seven Afghan commandos, and an Afghan interpreter. The troops killed were on their way to aid a US Army Ranger platoon, which had been flown in earlier to try to kill or capture a Taleban leader.