RQ-170 Sentinel Spotted in Nevada

Youtuber that goes by 8081rt spotted this, I believe at Creech AFB west of Las Vegas. The 30th Reconnaissance Squadron flies the RQ-170 out of the Tonopah Test Range, but so far I haven't spotted one in the air there.
en.wikipedia.org...


EDITED TO ADD: according to Wikipedia, they've had the RQ-170 since 2005.
THAT'S 11 YEARS.

They were running these guys out of Camp Dwyer in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The CIA dudes were flying these and I'm pretty sure they had nothing to do with what we were doing in Afghanistan. We were pretty close to Iran.

Side note, CIA spooks used to bring my guys hotdogs and burgers to barbecue since all we ever ate were T-rats and MREs.

lazygranch.com...


aviationintel.com...

Trevor Paglen caught it at Creech as well.

The Sentinel is my poster child for how unlikely it is for anyone to discover a secret project, well at least photograph one. The USAF announced the squad, said it was a UAV, said it was at the TTR, and nobody ever leaked anything.

Watching the TTR isn't like watching Groom Lake. No hike from hell. You drive and walk up a hill rated at 0.1 Tikaboo. The distance to the runway is half that of Tikaboo to Groom.

Myself included. I was there plenty of times over the years and never got a photo of the Sentinel.

originally posted by: gariac
lazygranch.com...


aviationintel.com...

Trevor Paglen caught it at Creech as well.

The Sentinel is my poster child for how unlikely it is for anyone to discover a secret project, well at least photograph one. The USAF announced the squad, said it was a UAV, said it was at the TTR, and nobody ever leaked anything.

Watching the TTR isn't like watching Groom Lake. No hike from hell. You drive and walk up a hill rated at 0.1 Tikaboo. The distance to the runway is half that of Tikaboo to Groom.

Myself included. I was there plenty of times over the years and never got a photo of the Sentinel.

As we both know, and has been mentioned on here before, TTR is basically hidden in plain sight. I was going to spend a night last trip on Brainwash Butte, however some very nasty thunderstorms were rolling in. The top of a butte isn't where you want to be in a thunderstorm, so I grudgingly retreated. This is a June 2016 night shot of the TTR base and runway, from the highway. Just west of the "Windmill Rest Stop" on Route 6. Just to give people an idea of how "hidden" it is.

a reply to: FosterVS

www.lazygranch.com...

I have a night panoramic in the link above. I've been blocking hot linkers since I went to a server with limited network traffic, but no browser can view these old djvu files, so have it at. There is a plugin for IrfanView to do djvu.

I like that rest stop for scanning. I don't recall if you have line of sight from the rest stop, but maybe a little bit up the hill.

You can also drive to the FAA radar site in Tonopah and see the back side of the TTR. Just take Radar Road until it ends.

a reply to: FosterVS

How do we know for sure this is a video from Nevada instead of somewhere else? Just asking for the obvious reasons, I don't know, and do not want to believe something inaccurate. Is the Source trustworthy, or do we trust the ATS Poster, or is it the YouTube poster?
I personally wouldn't know the difference and so I ask, so I'm not assuming.
Honestly, I think there are too many people assuming too many things in my country already, and I just need the truth!

a reply to: shell69

I know Trevor and met one of the 8081rt brothers. I believe both videos are true.

The 8081rt video has the classic i-95 traffic sound. Creech insists you stay on the opposite side of the highway. The base went as far as to buy all the private land next to the base so that no one can loiter near it.

I can ask Trevor how his video was recorded, but I think he had Laura Poitrus along side for that visit, and she has pro gear. Trevor's sound is substantially better. Perhaps a directional microphone was used.

originally posted by: shell69
a reply to: FosterVS

How do we know for sure this is a video from Nevada instead of somewhere else? Just asking for the obvious reasons, I don't know, and do not want to believe something inaccurate. Is the Source trustworthy, or do we trust the ATS Poster, or is it the YouTube poster?
I personally wouldn't know the difference and so I ask, so I'm not assuming.
Honestly, I think there are too many people assuming too many things in my country already, and I just need the truth!

Compare the contour of the hill with the tower in the still from the video, to my shot of Creech in May 2016. Tower is indicated in both pictures.

originally posted by: gariac
a reply to: FosterVS

I like that rest stop for scanning. I don't recall if you have line of sight from the rest stop, but maybe a little bit up the hill.

I couldn't see the lights from the base, from the rest stop. There is a hill in the way. Just slightly west down the highway and it's viewable.
Implying there isn't line of site from the rest stop.

This showed up in a date restricted Google search, meaning it was recently updated.


www.nellis.af.mil...

Colonel Avila was also selected to serve as the first RQ-170 squadron commander, our nation’s first low-observable, jet-powered Remotely Piloted Aircraft, where they developed the initial bed down plan and the Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for the cutting-edge combat capability.