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The U.S. Air Force’s secret stealth spy drone apparently has broken cover.
An aircraft matching the description of the bat-wing RQ-180 flew high over Edwards Air Force Base in California in broad daylight sometime in early October, its twin engines trailing a long, puffy contrail.
Photographer Rob Kolinsky snapped at least one good photo of the mystery-plane. On Saturday, he briefly posted the picture on Instagram. “This thing flew over my house several weeks ago and I still have yet to identify it,” Kolinsky wrote.
Aviation Week reporter Guy Norris helpfully ID’ed the aircraft for Kolinsky. “A picture has surfaced showing a new aircraft generally matching Aviation Week’s understanding of the shape of what is commonly known as the RQ-180 unmanned aircraft system,” Norris wrote on Sunday.
The Air Force has never officially acknowledged the existence of the Northrop NOC -0.9%Grumman-made RQ-180. In 2013, Aviation Week broke the news of the drone’s development. Six years later, the magazine followed up with an in-depth feature tracking the unit changes that could support a fleet that, at the time, reportedly numbered at least seven RQ-180s.
“There is a growing body of evidence that the stealthy vehicle is now fully operational with the U.S. Air Force in a penetrating intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance role,” Norris wrote at the time.
The RQ-180 reportedly is similar in shape to the Northrop-designed B-2. The unmanned aircraft is smaller than the manned bomber is, however, and also features design improvements that Northrop also is including on the new B-21 bomber that the company is building for the Air Force.
The RQ-180 first flew in 2010, Aviation Weekreported, finally allowing the Air Force to penetrate enemy air-defenses with a far-flying reconnaissance craft. The service last possessed that capability in the late 1990s in the form of the Mach-three SR-71 Blackbird.
The Air Force reportedly tested the roughly 170-feet-wingspan RQ-180 at Groom Lake, part of the Area 51 complex in Nevada. By early 2020 the RQ-180 apparently was so well-established in Air Force service that the flying branch was comfortable cutting its fleet of non-stealthy RQ-4 Global Hawk drones.
The Air Force in its budget proposal for 2021 asked Congress for permission to retire scores of aircraft, including 17 B-1 bombers, 44 A-10 attack planes, 24 C-130 transports and 29 aerial tankers. Lawmakers have rejected most of the cuts.
Perhaps most surprisingly, the flying branch also wanted to retire 24 of its 34 high-flying RQ-4s. The older Block 20 and Block 30 versions of the 1990s-vintage spy drone would retire while just 10 of the latest Block 40s would remain in the force.
The Air Force claimed the retirements would save $21 billion over five years. The purported savings don’t appear to have swayed skeptical legislators.
The Air Force wouldn’t say what it would deploy to make up for the gap in aerial surveillance that would result from a big reduction in Global Hawk patrols. No regional combatant commander ever wanted less surveillance.
But service leaders made it clear that something is available to take the place of the Global Hawks, if and when Congress approves of reductions to the RQ-4 fleet. “Most of what we’re giving up is unclassified,” the Air Force’s then chief of staff Gen. David Goldfein toldDefense News in February. “What we’re buying—not all but a lot of it—is in the classified realm.”
The RQ-180 might still be classified. But now it’s made at least one public appearance, flying high over California in the harsh light of day ... before landing on Instagram.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davida...es-public-debut-on-instagram/?sh=6e44b6e41458
