How the US Stole a Soviet Helicopter in the Middle of the Night - Operation Mount Hope III

Sometimes the best way to plan for and counter enemy technology is by directly accessing it. Piloting enemy aircraft, driving enemy vehicles, and dismantling them can give one nation a significant upper hand over another. Yet, accessing enemy technology can be incredibly challenging, unless it happens to fall from the sky intact. In 1988, something like that pretty much did occur, though, when the French captured two Soviet-produced Mil Mi-25 Hind-D helicopters in Chad. Abandoned in the midst of conflict between Libya and Chad, the Libyan air force-operated helicopters offered a tantalizing target for the West. After negotiating with the government of Chad, the U.S. launched a top-secret mission named Operation Mount Hope III -- sending a Chinook helicopter to extract the Soviet rotorcraft in the night.