Within the aftermath of the high-profile seize of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro by the USA, the participation by the Direct Motion Penetrator (DAP) model of the U.S. Military’s MH-60M Black Hawk has thrust one of the crucial intriguing Particular Operations Command (SOCOM) property into the highlight. These plane are the heavier-hitting gunships of the U.S. Military’s elite one hundred and sixtieth Particular Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), higher often known as the Night time Stalkers, and Venezuela was precisely the type of mission for which they’re supposed to fly, in help of a direct motion mission and assault crew.
TWZ readers can in any other case rise up to hurry on the main points which might be identified to this point in regards to the operation in our preliminary reporting right here and right here.
Closely armed assault variations of the H-60 Black Hawk household have been utilized by quite a lot of nations by the years. Nevertheless, the specifically tailored DAPs flown by the one hundred and sixtieth SOAR are undoubtedly the very best outfitted, even compared to the regiment’s normal MH-60s, that are used primarily as transports, and are extraordinarily succesful in their very own proper.
The one hundred and sixtieth SOAR has been working the tricked-out DAP variations of the Black Hawk since at the least 1990, with a major mission of armed escort and hearth help. At the moment, the unit solely operates the MH-60M model. These are flown alongside the M/AH-6M Little Chicken, which even have a gunship configuration, and the MH-47G Chinook; the latter kind was additionally employed in Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela.
A number of movies have emerged from Operation Absolute Resolve displaying the MH-60M DAP in motion, together with reportedly in the course of the assault on Fort Tiuna in Caracas, which you’ll learn extra about right here. This footage has additionally been recognized by some accounts as displaying U.S. Marine Corps AH-1Z Vipers, nevertheless it was a DAP. These plane are supposed to work very near their targets, with the signature mixed strafe and rocket barrage being a major tactic.
Footage reveals a United States Marine Corps (USMC) AH-1Z Viper assault helicopter participating floor targets with gun and rocket hearth in Caracas, Venezuela. In the meantime, U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been captured and flown out of… pic.twitter.com/bPYWXI8Gbr
— OSINTWarfare (@OSINTWarfare) January 3, 2026
A video displaying the DAP in motion in Afghanistan, utilizing weapons and rockets:
Within the broadest phrases, the present DAP configuration allies a particular operations MH-60M with stub wings for an expanded array of ordnance. These wings may be configured with one or two hardpoints on either side. It’s additionally price noting that the MH-60M plane are dual-role; each may be transformed again right into a transport helo from a DAP configuration in a few hours or much less. This gives loads of contingency functionality in a single plane.
By way of armament, the DAPs can carry a mixture of 70mm rockets, AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, Stinger ATAS (air-to-air missiles), GAU-19/B 50-cal machine weapons, and 30mm M230 cannons. The M230 is similar gun discovered on the AH-64 Apache assault helicopter. As well as, the DAP has a pair of seven.62mm Miniguns that may be locked in a forward-firing mode so as to add to the firepower. The 70mm rockets embrace Superior Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) variations, with laser steerage, permitting the DAPs to strike with excessive precision.
The actual configuration seen within the pictures under is called COMNAV IDAP and is typical of how the DAP appeared in Afghanistan in 2012:
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A 30mm M230 cannon and one other Minigun on the other facet of the identical helicopter. U.S. Military
The stores-carrying skill of the one hundred and sixtieth’s MH-60Ms has been refined by the introduction of all-new light-weight wings, often known as the Multi-Station Light-weight Armament Assist Construction (MLASS). These are lighter than the older sponsons and simpler for troops to put in and take away as crucial. The older ESSS wings and single pylon wings are additionally out there.
Apart from the weapons capabilities of the DAP model, the baseline MH-60M is completely filled with specialised avionics and programs very important for its vital missions, that are usually flown beneath essentially the most demanding circumstances and primarily at evening. Among the many most essential of those programs are a terrain following radar and a sensor turret with day and night-vision cameras, which we’ll come again to shortly. Having the identical avionics additionally means the DAP is ready to penetrate to the identical locations as the opposite one hundred and sixtieth SOAR plane they’re tasked to help.
A U.S. Military Soldier assigned to the one hundred and sixtieth Particular Operations Aviation Regiment masses rockets right into a MH-60 Black Hawk throughout a ahead arming and refueling level train at Marine Corps Outlying Area Atlantic, Could 6, 2025. U.S. Military Troopers and plane from the one hundred and sixtieth SOAR utilized MCAS Cherry Level’s coaching space to conduct a FARP. (U.S. Marine Corps picture by Cpl. Matthew Williams) Cpl. Matthew Williams
The DAP model additionally advantages from the rolling program of upgrades that preserve the MH-60M on the prime of its sport. For instance, the engine air filters seen on the present MH-60M configuration have been added particularly due to overseas object harm (FOD) ingestion points, which significantly affected the DAP, together with rocket smoke and shell casings that have been discovered to fly into the intakes throughout diving assaults.
On the entrance of the MH-60M, mounted within the middle of the nostril, is the terrain-following/terrain avoidance radar. The newer and extra succesful AN/APQ-187 Silent Knight radar, or SKR, has been steadily changing the AN/APQ-174 radar. The SKR can be discovered on Night time Stalker MH-47Gs, in addition to U.S. Air Drive CV-22 Osprey tiltrotors and MC-130J Commando II particular operations tanker/transports.
In each circumstances, the radar is important for the MH-60M to soundly fly extraordinarily low-altitude nap-of-the-earth flight profiles, even in poor climate and at evening. That is precisely the type of techniques that might have been utilized in Venezuela and also will have contributed to holding the helicopters away from enemy air defenses and avoiding detection typically. So far as we all know, just one helicopter was broken within the Maduro snatch, however returned from its mission.
Footage reveals Venezuelan floor forces using a MANPADS at a helicopter from the one hundred and sixtieth Particular Operations Aviation Regiment in the course of the last section of Operation Absolute Resolve.
Shortly after the launch, retaliatory hearth was noticed, doubtless delivered by MH-60M DAPs or… pic.twitter.com/ZEhc8rZFBL
— GMI (@Global_Mil_Info) January 4, 2026
On the nostril instantly under the radar is the AN/ZSQ-2 sensor turret, which homes electro-optical and infrared full-motion video cameras, in addition to a laser rangefinder. The DAP model of the turret moreover contains a laser designator for guiding weapons.
One other essential instrument that aids navigation by mud, sand, snow, fog, and different ‘degraded’ environments is the Degraded Visible Surroundings Pilotage System (DVEPS). It makes use of a mixture of cameras and LIDAR, linked to a terrain database, to do that. Amongst its sensors is the AN/ZSQ-2, seen to the left of the radar within the picture under.
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A special one hundred and sixtieth SOAR MH-60M with the entire DVEPS fitted. U.S. Military
There are maybe no helicopters wherever on the earth which might be higher protected than the one hundred and sixtieth SOAR’s fleet.
The MH-60M isn’t any exception, bristling with arrays of defensive programs throughout the plane, making a sphere of situational consciousness and safety towards a number of sorts of guided threats.
The defensive suite on the helicopter combines visible/infrared missile, radar, and laser warning sensors, which work along with energetic jammers and different digital warfare programs, laser countermeasures, in addition to countermeasures dispensers on both facet of the tail increase.
The self-protection programs utilized by the one hundred and sixtieth SOAR fleet are usually up to date to maintain tempo with altering threats. Among the many newest defensive additions to the MH-60M is the Widespread Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) system. As a directional infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) system, this makes use of laser beams to blind and confuse the seekers on infrared-homing missiles. CIRCM is built-in with present warning sensors, which it makes use of to cue the lasers towards incoming threats. The identical system can be being fitted on common Military Black Hawks, in addition to CH-47s and AH-64s.
Ought to the MH-60M crew get ‘painted’ by enemy radars or lasers, or if there’s an enemy missile incoming, they are going to be warned by the defensive sensors, which may even mechanically set off digital jamming, the launch of decoy flares and/or radar-spoofing chaff, and/or set off the CIRCM system. It’s all extremely built-in to maximized survivability.
Additionally a part of the survivability equation is simply understanding the place threats could also be, particularly in the event that they pop-up out of nowhere. That is the place the plane’s digital help measures, additionally tied into its defensive suite, gives situational consciousness to the crew with a purpose to give them the choice of avoiding or participating threats on the fly. Different menace information is datalinked to the plane from varied platforms, enhancing total situational consciousness.
On that notice, the MH-60M DAP, in widespread with all particular operations Black Hawks, boasts an in depth communications suite, as evidenced by the dense array of antennas above and under the fuselage. There’s additionally a outstanding satellite tv for pc communications antenna instantly above the cockpit.
As we simply mentioned in relation to the Venezuela operation earlier at this time, the Military, and particularly the one hundred and sixtieth SOAR, has been experimenting with using launched results from their H-60s for years now, although this isn’t an operational functionality, at the least that we all know of at current. These are drones able to being launched from helicopters (in addition to different platforms) that may fly dozens and even lots of of miles to strike targets, jam emitters, or decoy air defenses, amongst different duties. Launched results are seen as important to the survivability of helicopters sooner or later.
The video under, which the Military launched in 2021, contains footage at across the 0:34 mark within the runtime of certainly one of one hundred and sixtieth SOAR’s MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters carrying a tube for a ‘launched impact’ beneath its proper stub wing.
Launched results are additionally deliberate for the Military’s standard Black Hawk fleet, however the Night time Stalkers, and the DAP model of the MH-60M particularly, are more likely to obtain it first. In Venezuela, launched results would have allowed the DAP to strike targets not directly and reply to air defenses as they emerged, launching kinetic assaults to get the primary formation of helicopters by to their goal. There’s some proof this will have occurred for the primary time in fight throughout this operation.
Final however not least, as an MH-60M by-product, the DAP has lodging for the nose-mounted increase for the in-flight refueling probe. That is telescopic, extending when required to maintain the tanker and the trailing drogue away from the rotor blades. This offers the helicopter for much longer vary, restricted not by gas onboard however by crew fatigue, lubrication consumption and different components. They often refuel from their MC-130J counterparts.
Total, the DAP model of the MH-60M has a powerful declare to being essentially the most closely armed and best-protected Black Hawk iteration. Whereas it won’t be as closely modified because the stealth Black Hawk, with its radical low-observable options, this stays very a lot beneath wraps, and its present standing is altogether unclear.
Because it stands, the MH-60M DAP’s mixture of heavy armament, radar, and different sensor capabilities, in addition to its in depth self-protection and communications programs, made it an apparent candidate in Venezuela. Within the case of this raid, DAPs doubtless pursued troops responding on the advanced that was beneath assault. They might have been tasked with taking out targets comparable to armored automobiles and anti-aircraft weapons, in addition to hitting any identified threats simply earlier than the assaulters arrived. Important is the truth that the DAPs can function as a particularly well-trained built-in crew with their one hundred and sixtieth SOAR stablemates, working seamlessly as a ‘contained’ unit in essentially the most demanding of circumstances. It will be a lot more durable to usher in one other ‘large Military’ asset for a similar type of impact.
Hopefully, we’ll sooner or later study extra particulars about its function — and that of the broader one hundred and sixtieth SOAR — in Operation Absolute Resolve.
Contact the writer: thomas@thewarzone.com