While the SR-72, a kind of descendant from
the SR-71 “Blackbird” is a hypersonic UCAV, (see the article published in this
blog on November 6) and it is said would be operative for 2020 –although the
official announcement gives room to speculate about how many experimental
flights have already been done— the RQ-180 is a stealthy reconnaissance UAV
that can stay flying for weeks, and is a descendant of the Northrop Grumman
X-47B, used by the US Navy.
The RQ-180 announcement was published in the
latest edition of Aviation Weekly.
The RQ-180 is a drone that operates at high
altitude, at sub-sonic speeds.
It is believed that there is a small fleet of
this aircraft already flying over the world, and their base is at the famous
Area 51.
The X-47B was an experimental drone, smaller
than the RQ-180, and the first to takeoff and land from an aircraft carrier.
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