CONTROLLING the skies as US special forces swooped in to extract Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump’s “Night Stalker” pilots are among the best in the world.
The US Air Force 106th Special Operations Air Regiment – known as SOAR – manoeuvred through hostile radar, missiles and gunfire to get ground teams to their Venezuelan target – and now they’re training for their next hit.
With new tech and tactics expanding the scope and reach of the special forces, the stealth air commandos could soon be in action in Iran, insiders say.
Robert O’Neill, the Seal Team Six officer who terminated Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, told The Sun: “SOAR pilots are the best in the world. They can fix problems in 15-second time windows.
“They are the most professional silent warriors we have. No other military on the planet has anything like it.”
Whether it’s manoeuvring around mountains along Kurdistan’s border to help insurgents forming to fight the Ayatollah or direct action strikes on Tehran bunkers, the 106th will be central to any operations plotted by Trump.
“SOAR we can do it in Iran,” O’Neill said.
The secretive 106 unit whose helicopters have been recently enhanced with hellfire missiles, laser and sonic weaponry would be “a key part of the tool kit” in operations against Iran, US Army War College professor Evan Ellis tells The Sun.
The Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is steaming towards the Persian Gulf escorted by missile destroyers for possible military intervention.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have been slaughtered by Revolutionary Guards, bloodthirsty militias and pro-regime mercenaries from neighbouring Iraq.
And Trump has threatened ruler Ali Khameni with hitting him “where it hurts”.
Blackhawk and Chinook Helicopters are being flown to the Middle East in giant C-17 Galaxy transports – which have been stopping at Fairford RAF base in the UK.
Operation Total Resolve in Venezuela extracted Maduro in a swift blow – and some military analysts believe the same can be done in Iran.
With immense air power, US Special Forces “can now go anywhere and do whatever they want”, O’Neill said.
When the “Night Stalkers” descended on Caracas at midnight – flying in through ridge lines ringing the city – Russian Igla-S SAMs in the hands of militias and Cuban special forces remained a threat.
It was a repetition of the “Black Hawk Down” disaster in Somalia – when the downing of US helicopters led to days of savage combat – that could have turned into a political disaster for President Trump.
At least one Igla was fired against SOAR helicopters descending on Fort Tiuna loaded with Delta commandos, according to Venezuelan military sources.
But recently developed technology in the sensor cones of SOAR’s MH-60 Blackhawks and MH-47 Chinooks averted disaster.
High intensity laser beams that “trick” heat-seeking warheads saved the day by throwing them off course.
At least one fell harmlessly to the ground, according to The Sun’s source.
At the same time, an MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone also fired a hellfire missile – incinerating the MANPAD and its operator.
Several Venezuelan soldiers reported being incapacitated by sonic attacks.
One soldier said: “A sharp acoustic sound filled my head, we were all paralysed, fell down and couldn’t get up again.”
Trump confirmed that a high-powered device mounted on a Blackhawk fired an ultrasonic beam into an army barracks – paralysing much of the garrison with migraine headaches, acute nausea, nose and ear bleeding.
SOAR grew out of the lessons of a catastrophic 1980 attempt to rescue 50 American diplomats held hostage at the US embassy in Iran.
It resulted in embarrassing failure due largely to inadequately prepared Navy helicopters and aircrews.
Delta Force commander Charles Beckwith told the US Senate: “We need an organization that would include air force pilots, its own aircraft and helicopters, otherwise we are not serious about combating terrorism.”
Billions of dollars have since been invested in the 106 unit – with a tailored fleet of modified Blackhawks, Chinooks, MH-53 Pave Lows and MH-6 “Little Birds” fitted with technology usually reserved for of F16 fighter jets.
It allows them to fly low between hills and buildings in pitch black under any conditions.
The 106 developed its own mid-air refuelling tankers by modifying C-130 “Talons” to pump gas into special forces helicopters.
General Sam Wilson, a one-time Pentagon spy chief, said: “It was a revolutionary new concept for the air force.”
And “Night Stalker” pilots are carefully selected.
“They need to have the daredevil instincts of a top gun fighter jockey but must also like to fly slow and low, which is a rare combination in pilot,” Wilson said.
“They also have to be tougher than most pilots and feel comfortable flying in the darkness with night vision goggles.”
Trump’s ‘America First world order’
DONALD Trump is ready to unleash the full force of US power as he eyes up a “hitlist” of targets to create a new world order, experts say.
After the extraordinary capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the US president issued a swathe of stark warnings against countries within America’s sphere of influence.
Trump has marked up Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, Greenland and Iran as targets after the opening salvo on Venezuela – and is preparing for another hit soon, experts fear.
Retired US army general Ben Hodges told The Sun: “Trump thinks we got screwed over by the international order after World War II. He’s looking at all of this in terms of a deal. His philosophy is… ‘this is ours’.
“I don’t know what kind of timeline they’re working on. But I cannot dismiss it like I would have last week. I can absolutely not assume this is a bluff.”
Former Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis said Trump is ready to use “lethal military power” to get what he wants.
He said: “When you have a success like President Trump did in Venezuela, there is this blood in the water effect, like with a shark. It becomes a frenzy, they just start grabbing everything.
He added: “Trump has made it clear he wants complete control over the country of Venezuela and its ability to produce oil.
“It sets a precedent of, ‘we will take what we want and I’ll kill whoever I need to to get it’.
“Now we’re already saying we need to go into Colombia, into Greenland, strangle Cuba and even Mexico is getting caught in the cross hairs.”
During the 1991 Gulf War, SOAR infiltrated Delta Force teams deep into Iraq to hunt for Saddam Hussein’s Scud missile launchers, together with the British SAS, whose RAF 7th Air Squadron Chinooks lacked SOAR’s capabilities.
SOAR pilot Tom Trask flew his Pave Low three times into Iraq in one day.
He evaded Iraqi helicopter gunships patrolling the skies but got locked by the quick acquisition radar of a French Roland SAM battery which fired.
“We could feel the missile shoot right over us while I dropped down to just ten feet above the ground to duck it,” he said.
AC-130 gunships armed with 30mm gatling guns and 105 Howitzers that direct sustained fire with surgical precision also form part of the special air regiment.
They recently annihilated an entire convoy of Russian Wagner mercenaries threatening a US base in Syria, took out snipers in high rise buildings during the 1989 Panama invasion and now have Caribbean drug boats in their crosshairs.
And SOAR may soon be back in Iran, where a Special Forces catastrophe 45 years ago led to its creation.
“Geographical and military conditions in the Middle East are far more challenging than in Venezuela,” Professor Ellis said.
Khamenei hides in a deep underground bunker and air defences are much stronger. China is also reported to be delivering military supplies to them.
But SOAR pilots are “adaptable and know how to fix problems with split second speed,” Seal officer O’Neill said.
If special forces can’t take down Tehran initially, 106 may fly from bases in Kurdistan through mountain canyons to western Iran, an epicentre of the recent uprisings and where a rebel army might start forming.
