The plan was for the helicopters to fly low, through valleys, to avoid detection by Pakistani radar. The SEALs were arrayed in two assault teams вЂ“ Chalk One and Chalk Two вЂ“ and distributed as follows aboard the two helicopters: The rehearsals had also given the raiders a chance to practice riding aboard the specialist stealth helicopters they would be using (known as the MH-X.) These were flown by the US ArmyвЂ™s 160 Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), pilots who were at the top of their game, something that would prove to be a life saver during the mission.

Since April 2011, 24 members of Red Squadron had been practicing for the raid in a mock-up of the compound set up in North Carolina (just as members of the SAS hadВ practiced for the Iranian Embassy siege in a mock-up of that building.) These are further supported by a reconnaissance and surveillance (Black) squadron and an SBS-like maritime (Gray) squadron. The men aboard the helicopters that night were members of Red Squadron, one of four assault squadrons apparently within DEVGRU (again, the official name of SEAL Team Six), the others being Gold, Blue and Silver Squadrons. Abbottabad in Pakistan (shown in the top-right corner), where bin LadenвЂ™s compound was located (image: Google) Hence, the stealth helicopters emerging out of a moonless night that surprised both Sohaib Athar and, in due course, his government. As a nation with a certain number of jihadist sympathizers within its security establishment, Pakistan had an extremely limited ability to conduct highly sensitive operations without a high risk of security compromise.вЂќ вЂњAlthough Pakistan was a US ally in the region, as a sovereign nation there is no doubt that it would have insisted on controlling or conducting any potential special operations. Panzeri points out that even though the US chose to keep Pakistan in the dark about the operation, they had provided assistance to the Americans in tracking down bin LadenвЂ™s courier. Before the raid, the CIA had 60 вЂ“ 80% confidence bin Laden was there.ДЄs well as Athar and other nearby residents of Abbottabad, the raid also came as a surprise to the Pakistani authorities, as did bin LadenвЂ™s presence. In fact, the advantage of a commando raid over a drone strike, quite apart from sparing the myriad family members of bin Laden and his associates who were also present, was that it allowed for Navy SEALs to confirm if bin Laden certainly didВ lay within the compound.

This led in turn to efforts to try and definitively establish if bin Laden was indeed at the site, all of which were unsuccessful. The film вЂ Zero Dark ThirtyвЂ™ has told the tale of how bin Laden was tracked down after his courier was identified and tailed back to the compound by the CIA. Intelligence and preparation for the raid had been immense. Though these were of course the tip of a much larger iceberg. These included a CIA-induced outage of power and mobile networks in the area right before the raid started. (Indeed, the goal actually included the possibility of capturing the al-Qaeda leader).ДЄnd as Peter Panzeri explains in вЂKilling bin Laden: Operation Neptune Spear 2011вЂ™, Athar was witnessing and tweeting about the event despite a myriad of pre-operation measures meant to keep it as secret as possible. Athar of course could not have known it at the time, but he was witnessing the opening phase of a 38-minute raid of a nearby compound that aimed to either kill or capture Osama bin Laden.

Neptunes spear