Some experts believe the RQ-180 looks like U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman’s B-21 strategic bomber, pictured here. (Northrop Grumman/US Air Force)
If there is a phantom military aircraft that should only exist in secret and is a product of ultra-advanced technology, the RQ-180 deserves to be there.
In November 2020, the UAV, which has been full of mystery for more than 10 years, finally appeared in the public eye for the first time, according to “The War Zone” (The War Zone).com on the 1st. In fact, people didn’t know what to call it at first, so they used the name of the RQ-170 “Sentinel” developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works. (Sentinel) unmanned stealth reconnaissance aircraft, tentatively called the RQ-180.
In some ways, the RQ-180 and RQ-170 complement each other, but the RQ-170 is clearly older, lower level and altitude, less advanced, and more tactically oriented. However, they both have a flying wing design and certainly integrate with each other to some degree, but otherwise there is no direct relationship.
Although the Pentagon is silently building the RQ-180, details are almost non-existent, but a combination of public information and analysis, but still can get a glimpse of the whole picture. For all we know, it could be a cyber and reconnaissance platform, capable of penetrating and sustaining deep enemy airspace, and will undoubtedly be a key player in a revolutionary air warfare and cyber ecosystem in the future.
RQ-180 Stealth Drone
The overall design of this twin-engine drone is based on the requirements of stealth, broadband, omnidirectionality and ultra-advancement. And the U.S. side built it to fly at extremely high altitudes in the conflict zone airspace, that is, at least about 70,000 feet (about 20,000 meters), or to last for a very long time without being detected at all.
One important point is that while all parties are focusing on its reconnaissance mission surface, its more important potential may lie in acting as a high-altitude network node and information gateway. The analysis points out that while the U.S. can build and deploy F-22s, F-35s, B-21s and advanced unmanned stealth fighters to break through enemy air defenses or quietly sneak into enemy territory to launch devastating attacks on key targets, it does not mean that they can be allowed to fully realize their potential.
Today, for warplanes, especially stealth fighters operating in high-risk areas, situational awareness is critical to survival. These aircraft need to have all the relevant information around them in order to adjust their operational plans while in flight, such as immediately eliminating immediate threats on the battlefield or assisting their comrades in quickly finding and destroying targets before they pose a significant risk.
The F-35’s Multi-Access Advanced Data Link (MADL) is capable of interoperating not only among its peers, but also with the B-21 and other stealth fighters with similar systems. While the F-35 can securely pass information through the MADL, and stealth platforms in line of sight, there are significant limitations. In the future, sensors in space, on the ground, at sea, or in the air will transmit large amounts of information, but they will be hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away.
If the F-35 accidentally finds a target, but is not equipped with enough weapons to handle it, and a destroyer hundreds of miles away has hypersonic missiles on board that can easily annihilate it. The destroyer would then need the immediate information gathered by the F-35’s sensors in order to launch an attack. However, currently the F-35 needs to be in a less tense area in order to transmit information to non-stealth weapons platforms via high-bandwidth satellite datalinks.
But unfortunately, this is at best a low priority and will not work in highly tense war zones such as the Pacific. In addition, it is extremely resource-intensive to rely on a tandem of stealth fighters with multifunctional advanced datalinks to form a chain of hundreds, if not thousands, of miles of information transmission.
Therefore, the RQ-180, which relies on being at very high altitude and penetrating into enemy airspace, can be useful at this time to collect the multifunctional advanced data chain from the F-35 and B-21, as well as the information obtained by the F-22 navigation data link (IFDL), integrate them, and then resend them to the various weapons platforms below, and then transmit the collected information to U.S. weapons platforms around the world through high-frequency broadband satellite links. The information collected is then transmitted to U.S. military weapons platforms around the world via high-frequency, wide-bandwidth satellite links.
Recent Comments