Images show that parts of U.S. Army 160th SOAR MH-60M that crash landed off Okinawa were covered to hide some details

A Special Operations Black Hawk performed a “hard-deck landing” on the USNS Red Cloud off Okinawa, Japan.

Seven military were injured after an MH-60M Black Hawk helicopter belonging to the U.S. Army’s 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) performed a “hard-deck landing” on the USNS Red Cloud, 20 miles off Okinawa, Japan.

Aerial footage broadcast by several media outlets showed the helicopter (coded “63”) with part of its tail broken off: screenshots posted on Social Media (special thanks to @AbraxasSpa) shows that main and tail rotors were covered, most probably to hide some details (maybe noise reduction devices and other interesting sensors) of the Special Operations helicopter.

Therefore, not a Silent Hawk like the one involved in the Abbottabad raid to kill Bin Laden, but a highly modified chopper with plenty of details that is better to keep away from cameras.

Gunners Novorossia Army during the winter campaign, December 2014 – February 2015, Most of the photographs are Debaltsevskoy operations, in particular for fighting Sanzharovsky.

http://imgur.com/a/iTPQe

U.S. army has tested improved version of M270A1 MLRS rocket launcher with new armored cabin.

Over 100 artillery rockets were launched June 16 at White Sands Missile Range to test an improved version of the M270A1 Multiple Rocket Launch System. The test, conducted at WSMR’s G-16 impact area, saw an M270A1 MLRS vehicle equipped with a new armored cab fire 138 rockets to ensure the improvements didn’t negatively impact the vehicle’s mission performance.

An improved M270A1 MLRS of U.S. Army kicks up clouds of dust while firing during a test on White Sands Missile Range.

The M270A1 is a tracked vehicle equipped with a missile and rocket launch rack capable of firing many different kinds of artillery rockets and missiles. This makes the vehicle a highly-capable weapons platform, able to perform many different artillery missions in support of many different Army and joint operations. With the original system adopted in 1983, and an improved version in 2001, the MLRS has proven itself in several different armed conflicts, including Operation Desert Shield and Storm, as well as more recently Operation Iraqi Freedom. As armed conflict has evolved so have the requirements of systems like the MLRS, while it’s seen several upgrades to improve its ability to put rockets and missiles on target, recent conflicts have shown a need to improve the protection the vehicle provides its crew. The Improved Armored Cab project under the Precisions Fires Rockets and Missile Systems Project office is expected to meet this goal by proving the vehicle with an enhanced armor on the cab and improving related components, like the windows.