CIA restores helicopter that took first Americans to Afghanistan

The CIA has restored the helicopter that carried the first American team into Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks, repainting it in the camouflage it wore in 2001 to mark the 25th anniversary of the mission.

The Russian-designed helicopter sits on the grounds of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It flew a seven-man CIA team, code-named JAWBREAKER, into Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley on Sept. 26, 2001, just 15 days after the attacks. The agency calls the aircraft an Mi-17, but a retired CIA officer who says he was part of its history publicly corrected that.

“Actually an Mi-8 MTV. Nevertheless, she is a tremendous platform, performing flawlessly no matter the mission. Proud to have been part of her history,” wrote Ronald Moeller, who describes himself on X as a retired CIA paramilitary operations officer and former deputy assistant secretary of war for strategic readiness, in reply to the CIA’s anniversary post.

The two names describe closely related aircraft. The Mi-17 is the export designation for Russia’s Mi-8MTV family of medium transport helicopters, and the two are often used interchangeably. The CIA did not respond publicly to the correction.

The CIA bought the helicopter in the 1990s, reasoning that a Soviet-designed aircraft would draw little attention in Afghanistan, where both the Northern Alliance and the Taliban flew the same type. It could also handle the altitude. On the way to the Panjshir Valley, the crew had to cross the Anjuman Pass, which rises about 4,400 m (14,500 feet) above sea level.

The first flight carried the seven CIA officers, a three-member aircrew and two Afghan partners, according to the agency. Led by veteran officer Gary Schroen, the team brought millions of dollars in cash to recruit and equip Afghan fighters and prepared the ground for the U.S. military campaign against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Their main partner was the Northern Alliance, whose leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, had been assassinated by al-Qaeda operatives two days before the Sept. 11 attacks.

The helicopter went on to fly more than 300 missions in Afghanistan before its last operational flight in 2012. It was moved to CIA headquarters in 2018 and dedicated there on Sept. 26, 2019, exactly 18 years after the JAWBREAKER landing. Its fuel lines and other components were removed, and it was placed among rocks meant to resemble the Afghan landscape. It carries the tail number 91101, a reference to the date of the attacks.

Years outdoors took a toll. CIA Museum director Robert Byer told CBS News that the paint had badly faded in the sun and that animals had been getting inside. Over the past year, restorers sealed holes in the fuselage and repainted the aircraft to match its 2001 appearance. They also brought back “607,” the call sign of the Afghan pilot who flew the first mission.