Rumors began to fly almost six years ago, the Air Force had a new ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) aircraft known as RQ-180.
This plane was supposed to be a replacement for the Blackbird program that ended long ago. It is said that Northrup Grumman manufactured the elusive bird of war.
While the project has been shrouded in mystery, progress in the reorganization and equipment of land units seems to indicate that the elusive drone is finally operational.
Already in 2010, there have been claims of the development and testing of an airplane that resembled a B-2 Liberty Stealth Bomber. It was later learned that it was probably the B-21 Raider, and the story seemed to fade away.
But recent changes in personnel and equipment maneuvers seem to corroborate the creation of a new unit at the Beale Air Force Base in California.
The new group has been baptized as the 427th Reconnaissance Squad.
There has been no official confirmation of the designation of the unit by the Air Force, but public documents tell another story.
In 2007, Northrup Grumman began working with the USAF on a new complete design with a 172-foot long wing and two engines derived from the General Electric CF34, and capable of transporting 10,000 pounds of cargo.
It was developed under the LOBstar program, an experiment conducted between the aircraft manufacturer and the Air Force Research Laboratory known as SensorCraft.
Under the guise of this program, the RQ-180 was being produced. In 2009, USAF began preparations for a project in Groom Lake Nevada. This included the construction of a new hangar complex, large enough to house a plane with a huge wingspan.
By 2010 it was already being tested and produced.
Sources indicate to the International Business Times that seven generations of the new aircraft have been tested and flown, the last of which took place in 2015 at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.
While all this was happening, the USAF was dismantling, combining and organizing new units.
This is nothing new in military life, but the strange thing happens when the whole team goes from one place to another, with the same staff.
Everything disappears and appears some time later with a new unit designation and no official mission.
This only happens when an airplane is being produced, and the pilots are being trained to fly them. All kinds of new technologies and people began to appear in Beale.
In April of this year, a new Common Mission Control Center was opened at the base. According to sources close to the project, the new center “will provide fighters with scalable and adaptable products and services for use in disputed environments,” says the Air Force.
“Using software, hardware and human machines, the center can manage productivity, shorten the chain of task execution and reduce intensive communication in humans.”
Source: Lapatilla
