Secret Skunk Works Spy Drone Delivered To Air Force: Report
A mysterious cutting-edge Lockheed Martin spy drone is claimed to be flying after the program survived the threat of cancelation.
We have explored the possibilities related to the existence of a high-altitude, long-endurance stealth drone, the so-called 'RQ-180,' and how it’s likely poised to eclipse the crewed U-2S Dragon Lady and uncrewed RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance platforms and become one of the most important military aircraft of a generation.
Now, there are intriguing indications that a complementary platform or perhaps even a successor to the RQ-180 is not only being developed by Lockheed Martin’s legendary Skunk Works, but that this even more advanced spy drone has already been delivered.
- These potential revelations come from the latest episode of the Defense & Aerospace Air Power Podcast, hosted by editor-in-chief Vago Muradian, joined by regular guest J.J. Gertler, director of The Defense Concepts Organization and senior analyst at the Teal Group.
- For the time being, we have no kind of confirmation about these statements, but they are certainly highly interesting, considering what we do know about related programs and emerging requirements.
Speaking about the mysterious new spy drone from the Skunk Works, Muradian explains this is a “much more capable reconnaissance aircraft” than the RQ-180 and that “there are articles that have already been delivered,” although no indication of how many or at what stage the program is at.
Muradian adds that “there have been challenges with that program [and] some speculation that it had been canceled.” He continues: “My understanding is that the program was re-scoped because it is that ambitious a capability that [it] required a little bit of re-scoping in order to be able to get to the next block of aircraft."
The podcast also provides what it says is some of the backstory to the Skunk Works drone, the name of which is so far unknown. This suggests that the Air Force essentially came to a deal with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman about how to supersede the U-2 and the RQ-4 now in use, as well as what would come after the RQ-180.
The implication here is that Northrop Grumman was broadly happy to not challenge the announced retirement of the RQ-4 since it was already engaged in developing the RQ-180 that would replace it (and the U-2). At the same time, it seems that Lockheed Martin was willing to see the U-2 head into retirement, after almost seven decades of service, since it was given the task of building a successor to the RQ-180 or another aircraft that at least complements it.
Muradian does add, however, that there are “combatant commanders and a lot of people in the ecosystem who want the U-2 to stay around as long as possible because it gives a tremendous amount of capability,” something that we have talked about in the past, too.
Whatever form this new Skunk Works drone takes, it’s worth recalling first that even the RQ-180 remains highly secretive. Even the designation is only presumed, based on an extrapolation from Lockheed Martin’s RQ-170 Sentinel, another flying wing design, although a much smaller tactical reconnaissance aircraft.
When it comes to the RQ-180, it is possible that the airframe supports more than just reconnaissance, with networking and electronic warfare being other potential functions, although they may be hosted in various combinations. Regardless, the RQ-180 is clearly designed to penetrate into and persist deep into contested airspace and directly over or very near highly contested locales. This implies a large, twin-engine, flying wing design that incorporates highly advanced, all-aspect, broadband, very low-observable (stealth) features. It is expected to fly at very high altitudes for very long periods of time without the enemy being able to engage it, and hopefully, detect it at all.
While the RQ-180’s supposed design concept remains shadowy, we know even less about the Skunk Works drone that the Air Force is apparently already lining up as a complement, if not an outright successor to the RQ-180.
We have no idea, for example, if the new drone will broadly follow the same high-flying stealthy flying-wing design as the RQ-180, or if it will be something altogether different. There have certainly been repeated sightings of mysterious flying-wing-type drones in recent years. . .
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https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/secret-skunk-works-spy-drone-delivered-to-air-force-report
