Since 2005, the RQ-170 Sentinel has flown under the auspices of the United States Air Force as a stealthy reconnaissance drone. While built by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the RQ-170 can hardly be said to be well understood, although its participation in several high-profile missions is known, such as the operation in 2011 resulting in the death of Osama Bin Laden. Among military analysts and followers of aviation, it has become something of a mystery and speculation, and it is often referred to under the nickname “Beast of Kandahar.”.
The RQ-170 Sentinel came to public light in 2009 when one was sighted over Kandahar, Afghanistan. The drone features radar-absorbent coating, and its stealth characteristic allows it to be used in contested air. Its reportedly main tasks include providing streaming video to commanders, giving overwatch to ground troops, and possibly even acting as a communications relay. The inclusion of a drone in the air space over Osama Bin Laden’s compound during Operation Neptune Spear only serves to reinforce its strategic relevance.
The problem is that nobody knows exactly what the RQ-170 can do. Although it appears to be an outwardly visible use of a reconnaissance drone, really—what would it do over Afghanistan, where the Taliban does not have advanced radar systems? It is theoretically argued by some that the drone could be fitted with electronic warfare systems, but again, this theory is rubbished by others because the Taliban does not have such advanced technologies anyway.
In the year 2011, Iran claimed to have captured an RQ-170 Sentinel flying over its territory. State television in Iran broadcast pictures of the drone, which seemed to show the aircraft in a largely intact state. The records of the IRGC show they managed to hack into the systems of the drone to bring it down, something flatly denied by U.S. Defense officials, but the main condition of the drone remains relatively intact, which gives some weight to the assertions by Iran. Former US Navy electronics warfare officer Densmore illuminated that maybe the drone had been caused to land autonomously on its own by disrupting its communication links.
There have also been reports of RQ-170 Sentinels present in a variety of other locations, including Guam and the California desert near Edwards AFB. For the most part, these were images of the UAV wearing different paint schemes and test arrangements, indicating the continued development of it being tested. The flying-wing airframe of this UAV is smaller than the MQ-9 Reaper or RQ-4 Global Hawk; it is designed to be disassembled and transported and can thus be deployed quickly.
It is estimated that electro-optical sensors and an AESA-based synthetic aperture radar will constitute the sensors of the Sentinel to fit its reconnaissance and surveillance role. Targeting and bomb damage assessment for the B-2 Spirit bomber had also been carried out by this UAV. The most recent speculations are that the RQ-170 can participate in electronic warfare and may be weaponized; at the moment this cannot be verified.
U.S. Air Force confirms the RQ-170 in operational units by the 30th and 44th Reconnaissance Squadrons, which have a task mission scope ranging from intelligence collection to electronic attack tactics. “Stealth makes it ideal for contested and non-contested environments,” said Col. Stephen Jones of the 432nd Wing/432nd Air Expeditionary Wing.
For all of its secrecy, the RQ-170 Sentinel is one of the key platforms for modern warfare: It is the stealth, reconnaissance, and possibly electronic warfare capabilities that are required. As tensions flare over the South China Sea and other places, the capacity of the Sentinel to disappear from such use could prove invaluable in maintaining strategic advantages.