That new family of systems should be fully operational some time between 20, Nahom said. David Nahom, deputy chief of staff for plans and programs. If the stealth spy drone is as expensive as the B-21 is, it might cost half a billion dollars per copy.Īs recently as this summer, the Air Force was assuring lawmakers the service safely could retire the RQ-4 because it’s “bringing on … a family of systems” for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, according to Lt. If the RQ-180s replace RQ-4s on a one-for-one basis, the Air Force eventually could buy two or three dozen of the type. It’s unclear how many RQ-180s the Air Force possesses, how quickly the Air Force is buying additional copies or how much each RQ-180 costs.Īviation Week claimed there were seven RQ-180s in service as of 2019. Navy MQ-4Cs-naval Global Hawks-also fly from Guam and frequently appear on open-source flight trackers that log planes’ radio transponders. The RQ-180s reportedly began arriving around 2016, when the Air Force’s 9th Operations Group based at Beale Air Force Base in California-the stealth drone’s main operator-set up a detachment in Guam.Īir Force RQ-4s and U.S. According to a redacted annual report from the Air Force’s Air Combat Command, the USAF back in 2009 began staging RQ-170s in Guam. The Air Force for years has been building up its Pacific stealth drone force.

RQ-180s could keep track of mobile Chinese forces for the B-2s and B-21s to strike. That gets harder when the targets-army units, warships, missile-launchers and aircraft on the ground-can move.

The stealth bombers in theory could strike targets within range of Chinese air-defenses.īut their crews need to know where the targets are. The Air Force has 20 B-2s and is in the process of acquiring up to 149 new B-21s, also from Northrop. With its estimated 130-foot wingspan, it flies high over a distance of potentially thousands of miles, on short notice and through enemy defenses, if necessary. The RQ-180-which crews reportedly call “Shikaka” after a fictional bat-does what satellites, Global Hawks and Sentinels cannot do. Iranian industry quickly produced copies of the drone, of dubious quality. Iranian agents quickly scooped up the wreckage. One of the drones crashed on the Iran-Afghanistan border in December 2011. The Sentinel’s small size translates into limited altitude and range performance. But the RQ-170 is small-just 66 feet from wingtip to wingtip.

The Air Force operates at least one other stealth spy drone, the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel.

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