field, this was a helicopter. absolutely. training down at this part of the panhandle of florida is a routine location for special opes units, so the profile of the mission, the type of mission that was taking place, this is, this is what happens all the time down there. and so a tragedy like this clearly attributable to some factor that might have been weather at this time of year. clearly we can t jump to any conclusions, but you re correct. the debris field could be spread out a little bit. there would be a narrow search corridor. there was another bird that was used in tandem to this one. so clearly other folks there s a live sighting of where this debris field is. they probably saw this bird go down. this was a uh-60 blackhawk helicopter. what do we know about their safety record? this is phenomenal. this is an aircraft that s been
in the inventory of the army since the early 1980s. incredible aircraft. mission profiles over the last three decades. the avians are magnificent. the ability to fly the a high speeds just over the terrain, and in a special ops mission like this pushes the limits and the boundaries of this equipment. it s a matter of routine. we do this all the time. and the blackhawk helicopter is a great platform. it does exceptionally well, it s been tested in combat and decades before that as well. bear in mind this is a platform that s been improved so we have the very very latest models in use right now. this is still a search and rescue mission at this hour and everyone hoping for some good kind of outcome at this hour. we have another developing story this morning. the fallout from the infamous letter to iran more clear now,
affiliations. it s a tremendous challenge to the security of our nation and to the values of our citizens and so it s really the kind of challenge that this committee is here to deal with. my hope is that we will live up to the tradition that we have never failed to meet in the past. that when we had this kind of challenge, the congress came together. the senate particularly i think, in this format and i m confident that we can do so here again today and in the next few days. so i m happy to respond to your questions. first, i ll turn to secretary carter. thank you. secretary carter thank you. mr. chairman ranking member menendez thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here with you today on this important subject. before i begin, i m sure you re all aware that uh-60 blackhawk helicopter was involved in an
all right. 14 minutes before the top of the hour. here s what else is happening on this thursday. according to the u.s. army, three crew members were killed when a uh-60 blackhawk helicopter crashed in germany yesterday. the soldiers were on a training mission. after $672 million, the virtual border fence between the united states and mexico, doesn t work. 23 mile stretch was supposed to go into ser last month but boeing says glitches kept popping up. now, homeland security is apparently thinking about cutting its losses. great. brian? ever wish your boss would walk a mile in your shoes? a new reality show can i continue? a new reality series challenges bigwig xektd actives to do just that, give up their fancy