The fan apparently took a picture of a secret drone that was only speculated

An unnamed source provided the Aviation Week magazine a picture of an unknown aircraft near the famous US Air Force California base.As it turned out, hunters of interesting films managed to capture one of the most secret aircraft of American armed forces: drone RQ-180.

Type RQ-180 is a classified project of height unmanned aircraft with a long hall (high-altitude, long-endurance).According to American media, the fleet of the RQ-180 drones is in the operating deployment since the end of 2019.Produced by the American company Northrop Grumman, as well as conceptually similar to the new strategic bomber B-21 Raider.

Official places about the project silent but indications suggest that the RQ-180 is a unique reconnaissance and communication height platform designed for the all-encompassing command and control system ABMS (Advanced Battle Management System).RQ-180 through ABMS will allow (some even revolutionary) to improve the situation awareness of the combat scene, "real-time" management of fighting units and fundamentally shorten the chain of destruction (Kill Chain).

And mystery UAV-Possibly RQ-180-Flew and Racetrack Pattern in Daylight Over Edwards in Mid-October.Also, @AVWEEKGUY Reports an RQ-180 Nickname is Shikaka, The Great White Bat From Ace Ventura 2.Story: https: // t.CO/BB5XT3MFLX

Self-wing RQ-180 is powered by a pair of jet engines of unknown type.According to information from open sources, the RQ-180 range is 40 meters.For comparison-the drone MQ-9 Reaper has a range of 20 meters and a strategic bomber B-2 Spirit over 52 meters.RQ-180 is strikingly similar to the secret drone of the RQ-170 Sentinel, which has twice smaller span and only one engine.

In any case, Northop Grumman has rich experience with drones and self -winged wing.In addition to the Spirit and Raider bombers, the company built the operating RQ-4 Global Hawk and the X-47 Pegasus demonstrator.Northrop Grumman also participates in the construction of ABMS.

According to the Aviation Week portal, the RQ-180 is nicknamed, thanks to its unusual white color, "white bat" and apparently included to 74.Exploration Aviation (74th Reconnaissance Squadron).The squadron also has a white bat in the emblem.

Slim long wings confirm the RQ-180 to the drones of the hall type.Thanks to the use of Stealth, the drone will be very difficult to focus on the shooting and guidance radar and air air defense radar defense.The height available is estimated at 21,000 meters (70,000 feet) or above-from this height you can connect by direct communication (Line-of-Sight) located on the mainland or sea level of about a thousand kilometers.

GMTI (Ground-Moving Target Indicator) allows you to follow the movement on the ground

As the Drive: War Zone, the RQ-180 notifies the P-175 technological demonstrator, the Lockheed Martin is similar to the technological demonstrator of the P-175.Polecat was conducting test flights in 2005, but eventually crashed.Another fate of the program polecat is unknown.One of the objectives of the program was to explore the new innovative technology of production and composite structure.

What can he do?

The question is the mission and abilities of the RQ-180.According to the American media, the RQ-180 is a reconnaissance and communication drone, and basically complements, or replaces the U-2 spy aircraft "Dragon Lady", Global Hawk Reconnaissance Drones, and E-8C JStars (Joint Surveillance Attack Radar System).

In the case of the RQ-180, speculation about the use of radar for detecting moving goals on Earth GMTI (GROUND-MOVING TARGET indicator), for creating faithful radar images SAR (Syntrtic Aperture radar), or Electronic Intelligence Electronic Intelligence.

Another task that speculates The Drive: War Zone is often declining the ability of a “data lighthouse and compiler”.Due to its high flight and endurance height, the RQ-180 can serve as a low-flying communication satellite-it can connect underneath flying aircraft, but also ground or naval units.In addition, the RQ-180 can act as a translator among the incompatible data of the Madl (Multifunction Advanced Data Link) aircraft F-35 Lightning II and IFDL (intra-flight data link) F-22A Raptor.

The concept of using a height drone as a reconnaissance and communication platform

High-flying RQ-180 can two-way and translate data from F-35, F-22 or strategic bombers B-21 Raider (Raider gets Datalink Madl), but also low flying tactical drones.Of course, communication will be possible directly between the RQ-180 or with communication satellites-for example, with the Starlink network built.

Maternity

In this way, every tactical or strategic combat aircraft can get a "divine view" of the battlefield - thanks to the created combat network each aircraft will have a complete overview of the position, state and task of all units on the battlefield.Similarly, a thousand kilometers of smaller drones, such as planted from other larger drones or bombers, can be controlled directly from a distance.

Indeed a few days ago drone XQ-58a Valkyrie from its inner weapon shaft dropped a small drone Altius-600.The drone can carry a variety of heads, including combat, and has a range of over 400 km.

It is possible to imagine a situation where bombers will release tens or hundreds of these drones near the enemy space, which will be controlled by the RQ-180 height drone from many thousand kilometers away-for example, from a well-equipped command station of missile cruisers Ticonderoga or newly built Common Mission Control Center(CMCC).

According to American media, the RQ-180 is to be a key element of the command and management of ABMS.This is part of the unified and interconnected platforms for command and management across all the US Armed Forces (so -called.JADC2, or Joint All Domain Command and Control).

Common Mission Control Center (CMCC) is a new command center replacing the TACS (Theater Air Control System).CMCC is part of ABMS - collects and with the help of artificial intelligence processes reconnaissance, tracking and news information from all domains.The center is to follow the operations of the RQ-180.

ABMS originally originated as a replacement for communication and command aircraft E-8 Joint Stars.E-8 aircraft is used to monitor the situation on the battlefield and sending information to individual commanders.ABMS, however, far exceeds the ambitions and capabilities of the e-8 aircraft.

It is not a directly replacement, the result of the program is not one control center in one aircraft, but a system of different devices and parts that together should connect individual combat devices and their commanders.ABMS is intended to allow all US and allied units on and outside the battlefield to share data from the entire Pleiades of sensors (radar, optical, electronic) in real time.Operational deployment of ABMS is planned this year or in 2022.

Indeed, the Air Force for the needs of ABMS as a "data beacon and translator" tested the aircraft U-2.Likewise, the Air Force tried to convey data transmission between F-22 and F-35 using the XQ-58A Valkyrie drone.

The text was created for the Army Newspaper website, which brings news not only from the Czech Army.Has been edited before the release.The original can be found here.