Nightstalkers (160th SOAR)
The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), known as the "Night Stalkers," is a US Army Special Operations aviation unit that provides helicopter support for Special Operations Forces. Headquartered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the 160th SOAR is considered one of the Army's most elite aviation units, employing highly qualified aviators, crew chiefs, and support soldiers. The regiment maintains a large fleet of helicopters including CH-47 Chinooks, MH-60 Black Hawks, and MH-6 Little Birds, and frequently operates with Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
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Notable Operations
The Night Stalkers have deployed globally on sensitive missions including the recovery of a downed Soviet helicopter in June 1988 and supporting Operation Desert Storm from Panama in 1991.
Theorized UAP Involvement
In the analysis of the 1997 Peru UFO Crash Incident, the 160th SOAR was considered as a possible source for the US Army CH-47 Chinook helicopters that transported the Department of Energy NEST retrieval team to the crash site. However, UAP Gerb favored the 1st Battalion 228th Aviation Regiment from Joint Task Force Bravo as the more likely source, since 1-228th Aviation had a provable CH-47 presence in the US SOUTHCOM theater, whereas the Night Stalkers were based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky — making it technically impossible to fly Chinooks to Peru within the roughly 9-hour window established for the retrieval operation. That said, it remains possible that Night Stalker elements were pre-positioned in the SOUTHCOM area of operations as part of a standing UAP rapid recovery capability.