The Killer Egg: Why the AH-6 Little Bird is a Spec Ops favorite
Stavros Atlamazoglou | January 18, 2022
For more than 40 years, the AH-6 Little Bird, a special operations helicopter, has been supporting U.S. commandos across the world.
Flown by the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, nicknamed the “Night Stalkers,” the AH-6 is a small gunship capable of doing big damage.
Based on the Hughes McDonnell Douglas MD 369 and MD 530, the Little Bird was initially envisioned by the Army to serve as a light reconnaissance aircraft for its armored divisions. But fate had other plans for the rotorcraft.
An AH-6J Little Bird armed with M134 miniguns and 7-tube FFAR rocket launchers takes off from an aircraft carrier (USMC).
In 1980, a joint special operations force went into Iran to save the 66 American hostages that were being held by the Iranian revolutionaries in Tehran. Operation Eagle Claw, as it was known, ended up being a failure, but it prompted the creation of an official special operations structure and several new units.
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