The return of the Black Hawk helicopters that participated in the capture of Nicolás Maduro

The units that participated in Operation Absolute Resolution, the capture of Nicolás Maduro, continue to return to their bases.

Official photos of US military aircraft returning from the capture of Maduro
The special operations helicopters of the United States Army's 'Night Stalkers'

As I already told you on January 3rd, the same day as the capture of the Venezuelan dictator and drug trafficker, one of the participating units was the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) "Night Stalkers" of the U.S. Army, a well-known unit with extensive experience in the most sensitive operations of the U.S. Armed Forces. Let's remember that this was the aviation unit that carried out the raid to eliminate Bin Laden in Pakistan, transporting Navy SEALs.

Last year we already saw the helicopters used by the Night Stalkers here. These aircraft are characterized by being painted completely matte black, unlike other US Army helicopters, which use the color FS34031 Aircraft Green (a dark olive green, in the case of the UH-60 Black Hawk and others). medium and light helicopters) or the FS34201 Woodland Desert Sage (a color similar to the khaki used by the CH-47F Chinook).

This morning, the YouTube channel EpicAviation47-Helicopter King posted a video showing five Night Stalkers MH-60M Black Hawk helicopters at Gwinnett County Airport in Georgia. These aircraft were filmed on January 7 at the civilian facility upon their arrival from Florida for a refueling stop. The video's author notes that the helicopters used radio call signs Tromp61, Tromp62, Tromp63, Tromp64, and Tromp65. "According to aviation monitoring, flight tracking data, and multiple reports, these aircraft are the same MH-60M Black Hawks linked to the recent Venezuela operation", the video description states.

Another feature that distinguishes the Black Hawks of the Night Stalkers from other helicopters of the same model is that they are equipped with refueling probes on the starboard side of the aircraft, allowing them to refuel in flight during their missions. The two USAF HC-130J Combat King IIs that we saw here yesterday, parked at José Aponte de la Torre Airport in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, were probably deployed to support the MH-60M and MH-47G Chinook heavy helicopters of the Night Stalkers.

It should be noted that the Night Stalkers' MH-60s are also certified to operate from ships, so these aircraft could have operated from one of the naval units deployed by the U.S. Navy in the Caribbean Sea. The U.S. government is usually very secretive when discussing the operations of this unit, so its participation in this operation has not even been confirmed.

An interesting fact is that on June 11, 2025, Donald Trump attended a special operations demonstration at Fort Bragg, California, featuring the Night Stalkers, among other units. This exercise could have been a rehearsal for the operation carried out on January 3 to capture Nicolás Maduro. You can see images of that demonstration in this video published today by Fly By Wire Aviation, which shows MH-60M Black Hawk and MH-47G Chinook helicopters of the Night Stalkers:

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Main image: EpicAviation47-Helicopter King. An MH-60M of the Night Stalkers filmed on January 7 at Gwinnett County Airport, Georgia.