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White bat iconography surrounds the shadowy RQ-180 program and it's no mistake the Air Force just dropped that name and showed a similar design.
It seems like the drumbeat of news regarding the existence of the U.S. Air Force's secret 'RQ-180' high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) flying-wing stealth drone is really picking up in tempo. After three sightings of such a craft, two over America's premier flight test airspace in California and Nevada and another seemingly over the Phillippines, it seems like an official disclosure of the aircraft could potentially happen soon. Further evidence of this possibility comes directly from the Air Force's Profession of Arms Center of Excellence (PACE).
The video, titled "Heritage Today — ISR And Innovation," gives a quick overview of how far the Air Force's information, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission has come over the decades. Toward the video's end, it shows a Global Hawk flying and boldly states, "The days of balloons and biplanes have been replaced by white bats." At this point, it cuts to a planform image of a stealthy flying-wing HALE drone — one of the semi-cranked-kite designs we have seen in HALE sensor craft studies that emerged in the 2000s and similar to notional art posted by Aviation Week when covering the clandestine RQ-180 program (keep in mind we still do not know its real designation).
Secret RQ-180 "White Bat" Spy Drone Alluded To In New Air Force Video
White bat iconography surrounds the shadowy RQ-180 program and it's no mistake the Air Force just dropped that name and showed a similar design.
www.thedrive.com
