The "Devil’s Chariot" had been abandoned in the desert. The U.S. Army devised a plan to seize it

An Unexpected Discovery in the Sands of Chad

In 1988, an unexpected opportunity arose at a remote airfield located deep in the heart of the Chadian desert. A Soviet Mi-24 “Hind” helicopter lay there, abandoned in the middle of an arid and inhospitable expanse. What looked like a simple wreck was, in reality, a technological goldmine for Western forces.

According to a detailed account by journalist Tim Newcomb, U.S. intelligence agencies had been desperately trying to get their hands on this aircraft for over a decade. The goal was clear: to uncover its secrets, analyze its vulnerabilities, and develop tactics to neutralize it on the battlefield.

However, seizing the machine was no easy feat. The helicopter had a bullet hole in its engine, making any attempt to fly it under its own power impossible. This major technical failure forced military strategists to devise a particularly complex recovery operation, right under the noses of enemy forces still present in the region.

The “Devil’s Tank,” a machine without equal in the West

To understand the American obsession, we must go back to the late 1960s. At that time, Soviet designers were closely studying the American tactics employed in Vietnam using NATO aircraft such as the Bell UH-1 Huey, designed for transport, and the Bell AH-1 Cobra, designed for attack. Soviet engineers then decided to merge these two distinct roles into a single aircraft design.

The result of this research was the Mi-24. This hybrid aircraft, part armored gunship and part troop transport, is capable of deploying a squad of eight combat-ready soldiers while unleashing devastating firepower. It weighs 18,000 pounds and is equipped with a four-barreled 12.7 mm Gatling-style rotary cannon housed in its nose, as well as rockets and anti-tank missiles. Its thick armor can easily withstand 12.7 mm small-arms fire from the ground.

Given its ability to insert troops, eliminate enemy positions, and extract its own men in a single sortie, the Afghan mujahideen nicknamed it the “Devil’s Tank.” The Soviets built 2,500 of these “flying tanks” and exported them on a massive scale around the world, thereby reinforcing their formidable reputation.

Unrivaled flight performance

In addition to its firepower and armor, the Mi-24 possessed a major advantage that baffled Western analysts: its blistering speed. Despite its imposing weight and military payload, the helicopter was capable of exceptional aerodynamic feats for an aircraft in its class.

In 1978, a modified version of the Mi-24 set the world speed record for a helicopter by reaching 228.9 miles per hour. This impressive technical achievement remained unmatched for nearly a decade, demonstrating the technological edge of Soviet engineers in this specific field.

Even in its standard combat configuration, the aircraft could easily exceed 200 miles per hour. This speed allowed it to outrun any Western helicopter sent to intercept it, fully justifying the U.S. military’s fierce determination to capture one for thorough study.

From Libya to Chad: The Legacy of the “Toyota War”

The presence of this Soviet helicopter on African soil stems from a major geopolitical conflict. The Soviet Union had exported several dozen of these helicopters to Libya, then led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi subsequently launched an invasion of Chad, a Central African country, with the aim of conquering oil-rich territories.

This conflict, which lasted from 1978 to 1987, was dubbed the “Toyota War.” This unique name stems from the Chadian National Armed Forces’ extensive use of Toyota pickup trucks, modified to withstand the sand and equipped with guided anti-tank missiles, which provided formidable mobility against Libyan forces.

At the end of the fighting, the Chadian forces, with assistance from France, succeeded in repelling the invasion. During their retreat, Libyan troops abandoned several export models of the aircraft—officially designated as Mi-25s—at the remote Ouadi Doum airbase in northern Chad. However, the helicopter remained clearly visible to Gaddafi’s forces, complicating any attempt to recover it.

Operation Mount Hope III: Logistics and Meticulous Preparation

It was against this tense backdrop that Operation Mount Hope III was launched. The U.S. military reached a confidential agreement with Chad and France to discreetly exfiltrate a Mi-25 from the abandoned base. The mission, classified as top secret, was entrusted to the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, aptly nicknamed the “Night Stalkers.”

The main challenge was that Libyan troops—armed with enough firepower to destroy both the helicopter and the recovery team—must not notice a thing. Preparations began in the New Mexico desert. U.S. military personnel outfitted two Boeing MH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, modifying one of them to exactly match the weight of the Soviet aircraft to be lifted.

After three months of intensive logistical training, the operation was launched in June 1988. Sixty soldiers boarded a giant Lockheed C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. The two massive MH-47 helicopters were loaded into the aircraft’s cargo hold, bound for the African continent.

A blind flight and a successful exfiltration

The plane landed at N’Djamena International Airport in Chad, where the MH-47s were unloaded. Taking advantage of the darkness, the helicopters flew 550 miles toward Ouadi Doum. The crews flew equipped only with night-vision goggles, without any external navigation aids. On the ground, troops had already secured and prepared the helicopter for air transport.

The Soviet helicopter was quickly slung beneath one of the MH-47s, while the second American helicopter loaded various additional spare parts. During the return flight to the capital and the transport aircraft, a violent sandstorm arose, reducing visibility to nearly zero. Despite these extreme conditions, the pilots kept their aircraft airborne and managed to land safely. No shots were fired, no men were lost, and the Libyan forces apparently suspected nothing.

The “Night Stalkers” then loaded the precious haul onto the C-5. Just 70 hours after the start of this covert operation, the aircraft touched down at Fort Rucker (now Fort Novosel) in Alabama. U.S. Army aircrew refurbished the helicopter, studied it thoroughly, and even used it in training exercises before it was finally added to the Southern Museum of Flight’s collection in 2012.

Source: popularmechanics.com

The "Devil’s Chariot" had been abandoned in the desert. The U.S. Army devised a plan to seize it