The U.S. Air Force’s B-2 stealth strategic bomber, as the bomber with the least number of service and the most expensive, much of its technical information has so far been top secret information. However, there is one aircraft in the U.S. Air Force sequence that actually makes fewer appearances than the B-2 and has very little public information: the U.S. Air Force’s RQ-170 stealth drone.
A RQ-170 stealth drone in test configuration
A UAV that is more classified than the B-2 stealth strategic bomber? I’m afraid this is not a deliberate attempt to confuse the public, right? The RQ-170 stealth drone has been around for at least a decade, but the U.S. Air Force still provides little official detail on its capabilities or operational use. If you think about it, it’s easy to see whether you hear more reports about the B-2 or the RQ-170. These are all deliberate efforts by the USAF. To put it mildly, you may not believe that a large portion of the declassified documents about the RQ-170 to date have been provided anonymously to various media outlets by those who broke the story. This shows that there is much more to the RQ-170 than we all know.
Photo of the RQ-170 originally known as the “Kandahar Beast”
In many documents and sources, the U.S. Air Force first confirmed the existence of the RQ-170 on Dec. 4, 2009. However, according to the latest declassified information, the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron, is the first U.S. Army unit to publicly operate the RQ-170. The unit was secretly organized on Sept. 1, 2005, in support of the Sentinel program, the RQ-170 development program, and on May 1, 2007, was reassigned from the 57th Wing to the 432nd Wing at Creech Air Force Base, which is one of the Air Force’s primary test and evaluation units for the new fighter aircraft. One of the primary test and evaluation units for the Air Force’s new fighter aircraft. It is easy to see that the RQ-170 existed much earlier than the U.S. military’s so-called “public time. It is worth mentioning that in many declassified documents, the RQ-170 stealth UAV uses a code name other than the current public “Sentry”, but uses the unofficial code name “Ghost” to refer to the RQ-170, from which it is easy to see the RQ-170’s It is easy to see the mysterious nature of the RQ-170.
Photo of RQ-170 stealth drone taken by U.S. netizens
In addition to the confusion over when the RQ-170 existed and the name it used, the U.S. Air Force also had very strict control over the RQ-170 stealth drone.
A memo from the 432nd Wing leadership had explicitly prohibited anyone from talking about the RQ-170 and its capabilities to unauthorized individuals or taking any photos or videos of the drone under the threat of possible disciplinary or criminal prosecution.
Not only that, but even the area where the RQ-170 is being tested is inaccessible to the general flying public and testers.
Satellite images of the RQ-170 stealth drone
The RQ-170 was tested at a highly classified U.S. military base in Tonopah, which is on par with the famous “Area 51” and is located 70 miles away from it.
It is said that very little information is known about this military base, and even U.S. Army intelligence personnel rarely mention this place. The base’s primary role is to support the development and testing of advanced and sensitive aircraft, including secretly purchased foreign models, including the world’s first stealth fighter, the F-117 Nighthawk, which was tested at the base. The location of the RQ-170’s test site is a testament to the importance the U.S. military places on it.
So far, the U.S. Air Force has released the only photo of an RQ-170 landing on Guam.
The RQ-170 first appeared in Afghanistan in 2007, after which the press dubbed the drone the “Kandahar Beast. In 2009, the drone flew to Guam and then to South Korea in order to conduct military reconnaissance of certain countries in Asia. However, the above military operations are very secretive, and even photos are rare, which shows the strict degree of control of the U.S. military.
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