Military AI Works

An email from a friend.
It looks like a mini B-2. The Navy has one in development by Northrup Grumman.

Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 9:29 PM
Subject: USAF Confirms New Stealth UAV






This photo appeared on the web early this week. It precipitated the Air Force's confirmation of the aircraft. Nena
USAF Confirms Stealthy UAV Operations
Dec 4, 2009
David A. Fulghum davef@aviationweek.com

Bill Sweetman william_sweetman@aviationweek.com



The U.S. Air Force has confirmed to Aviation Week the existence of the so-called "Beast of Kandahar" UAV, a stealth-like remotely piloted jet seen flying out of Afghanistan in late 2007.

The RQ-170 Sentinel, believed to be a tailless flying wing design with sensor pods faired into the upper surface of each wing, was developed by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), better known as Skunk Works. An Air Force official revealed Dec. 4 that the service is "developing a stealthy unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to provide reconnaissance and surveillance support to forward deployed combat forces."

The UAV had been discussed on the Ares technology blog, as well as elsewhere online, but the USAF statement to Aviation Week was the first to detail the aircraft.

"The fielding of the RQ-170 aligns with Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates' request for increased intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support to the combatant commanders and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz's vision for an increased USAF reliance on unmanned aircraft," says the emailed statement.

The RQ-170 is flown by the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Tonopah Test Range, Nev. - home of the F-117 stealth fighter when the program's existence was secret - and falls under Air Combat Command's 432d Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. At Kandahar, the Sentinel was seen operating out of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' hangar.

The 30th RS was activated as part of the 57th Operations Group on Sept. 1, 2005, and a squadron patch was approved July 17, 2007. The activation - although not the full meaning of the event - was noted among those who watch for signs of activity in the classified world.

The RQ-170 designation is similar to that of the F-117 - a correct prefix, but out of sequence to avoid obvious guesses of a program's existence. Technically, the RQ designation denotes an unarmed aircraft rather than the MQ prefix applied to the armed Predator and Reaper UAVs. The USAF phrase, "Support to forward deployed combat forces," when combined with observed details, suggest a moderate degree of stealth (including a blunt leading edge, simple nozzle and overwing sensor pods) and that the Sentinel is a tactical, operations-oriented platform and not a strategic intelligence-gathering design.

Many questions remain about the aircraft's use. If it is a high-altitude aircraft it is painted an unusual color - medium grey overall, like Predator or Reaper, rather then the dark gray or overall black that provides the best concealment at very high altitudes. The wingspan appears to be about 65-ft., about the same as an MQ-9 Reaper. With only a few Internet images to judge from - all taken from the left side - the impression is of a deep, fat centerbody blended into the outer wings.

With its low-observable design, the aircraft might be useful for flying the borders of Iran and peering into China, India and Pakistan for useful data about missile tests, telemetry as well as gathering signals and multi-spectral intelligence.

Read the Ares post on the Sentinel.

Photo: Air & Cosmos

SOURCE: AVIATION WEEK



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Here's a link to the actual article with a grainy picture of the aircraft:

LINK

Here is a better pic.
http://gizmodo.com/5419363/usaf-confirm ... alth-plane

Les

This link has the squadron patches and talks more about it.
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/sh ... p?t=170045

Good find Maddog. Lots of interesting pictures in that link. Seems like this is the best of the bunch even though it's from the side:

well, if their admitting this one...who knows what their working on now

Me thinks there are lots of "black projects" that are unmanned flying wings these days. Seems like they've figured out how to make flying wings stable enough to be flown autonomously. That pretty much opens the door for all kinds of new possibilities.

Last year, the USAF for the first time in history, sent more of it's UPT graduates to UAS/UAV positions than fixed wing manned positions. So it is now a reality that if you join the USAF to be a pilot, the odds are that you may never actually fly in anything after you graduate from UPT. Sad but true.

Oh boy maybe eveybodies favorite movie "Stealth" will become a reality.
Les

Thing I dont get..If I signed up for USAF and did pilot training and then was posted to sit on my arse and fly an UAV I would be distraught!
How are the USAF going to keep pilots as I am sure this is not what they want to do???

Well right now there is a glut of pilots out of work in the US, so for now, there will be no shortage of volunteers even in the USAF to sign up to fly UAVs. You ought to see the competition to fly UAV's for the USCBP. Even I can't get in on that action.

Plus the "carrot" in the deal is that the pilots may have the opportunity down the road for reassignment to a fixed wing unit at some point. That's about the best these guys can hope for at this point. Who would have ever though that students getting assigned to a tanker out of UPT would be considered the lucky ones.

But make no mistake, UAV's/UAS's/UCAV's/UCAS's, whatever we end up calling them are not going away. They are the future and they are already here. Something like 50% of the 18 year olds in the U.S. can't even pass the military's basic physical fitness requirements right now anyhow. So we've got a perfect generation of couch potatoes for which UAV operation will suite them just fine.

... plus you don't have to eject from those things.

Good Point Steve, If the UAV is going to crash the pilot can just sit back and sip his coffee...

... Mind you I think that if you plug the pilots seat into the mains there might be an incentive to ensure that his attention is maintained.

Funny you say that Barry cause that's sort of what happened here when the USCBP crashed their first Predator B model back in 2006.

Interesting accident report: http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_i ... 0531&key=1