The US Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet in Washington on Wednesday was on a classified training flight tied to a seldom-discussed mission aimed at evacuating senior government officials in the event of an attack, according to defense officials.
The military mission, known as “continuity of government” and “continuity of operations,” ensures the US government remains functional during national emergencies.
Most days, crews like the one involved in the crash transport VIPs around Washington, where helicopter traffic is frequent.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the Black Hawk crew’s connection to the mission during a White House press briefing on Thursday, explaining that they were conducting routine, annual re-training of night flights along a designated government evacuation corridor.
12th Aviation Battalion’s Role in Crisis Response
The three soldiers killed in the crash were part of the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, which is tasked with evacuating Pentagon officials during national crises. Another 64 people died aboard the passenger aircraft.
Flying with night vision goggles, the Black Hawk crew was conducting their mission along the Potomac River on a flight path known as Route 4. Amid scrutiny over military flight operations near a busy airport, officials have pointed to the battalion’s crucial role in national security.
“Some of their mission is to support the Department of Defense if something really bad happens in this area, and we need to move our senior leaders,” said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for the Army’s Aviation Directorate.
9/11: A Rare Activation of the Continuity Mission
The last known activation of a US continuity of operations mission occurred during the September 11, 2001 attacks, when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked airliners and struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people.
At that time, the 12th Aviation Battalion was tasked with transporting senior leaders to undisclosed locations.
“The battalion helped transport some senior leaders out of Washington, D.C., to ‘hide sites,’” said Bradley Bowman, a former Army aviation officer who participated in 9/11 emergency flights with the battalion.
That evening, Bowman flew a Black Hawk to retrieve then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz from one of these sites and return him to the Pentagon.
The Pentagon’s designated helicopter landing pad had been destroyed in the attack, forcing Bowman and his crew to improvise.
“We just repositioned and landed in the traffic circle of I-395, which had been closed by that point,” Bowman recalled.
Wolfowitz later described being transported to a secure underground site designed to withstand nuclear war.
The location, known as Raven Rock Mountain Complex, or “Site R,” is located near Camp David and remains one of three primary emergency relocation facilities for US government leaders.
“It’s 100 percent operational today,” said historian Garrett Graff, author of a book on government continuity. “There’s a team of maybe 100 personnel inside Raven Rock right now, ready to pick up the pieces of the US government if needed.”
