US Air Force confirms 'Beast of Kandahar' drone

US Air Force confirms 'Beast of Kandahar' drone

rawstory.com

The US Air Force on Tuesday confirmed for the first time that it is flying a stealth unmanned aircraft known as the "Beast of Kandahar," a drone spotted in photos and shrouded in secrecy.

The RQ-170 Sentinel is being developed by Lockheed Martin and is designed "to provide reconnaissance and surveillance support to forward deployed combat forces," the air force said in a brief statement.

(visit the link for the full news article)

When I see reports such as this I can't help but wonder just how far ahead the military is from the technology they release as " the newest thing " .

Now seeing how " breaking " ATS is I am reasonably certain that this drone may have been discussed before ? However , to my best recollecting this is the first time this drone has been openly discussed and covered by the MSM ?



rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

We had nukes being deployed in the 40's.

A satellite in space in the 50's.

Internet in the 60's (private at the time).

Yadda yadda.

This sort of thing does not surprise me at all. I mean come on...we have friggin lasers that can give you perfect vision. Landed a damn man on the moon.

The LHC.

I see teenagers talking about parallel universes (not saying it is real or not).

Do not underestimate humanity.

Here is a picture of it I got off the french newspaper "Liberation" page. I believe they were the first to break the news.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/56fc23bfa686.jpg[/atsimg]

It would probably blow our minds if we new what all that had hidden

P.S. I hope this is the right picture

Is there a description of what this plane looks like or even a photo yet?

I wonder if they control them from afar or up close in the field?

oops. thanks spacecase7717

[edit on 8-12-2009 by Optix]

reply to post by spacecase7717

looks like the right picture to me. according to this yahoo news article they are mini b-2 drones.
news.yahoo.com...

reply to post by middleclasssoldier

Actually if you read the press release carefully, they never said that was the drone in question. They simply said they were operating a tailless, stealthy drone out of Afghanistan. Everyone ASSUMES that is the drone in question however.

Interesting

How wild and horrifying it must be for the Afghan people to see these things circling around mountains like vulchers. While all the Taliban are shooting hand held rocket launchers at them that can't fly half as high.

At least we now know which side the Beast is on...

I bet it will kill lots of people...

The Real Beast Of Kandahar!

The photo the Government doesn't want you to see!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ded5a54abbb5.jpg[/atsimg]

Could Bill Sweetman have picked a more dramatic name for this thing?

Anyway, it's interesting to see the Air Force take the wraps off the RQ-170 -- some two years after it was allegedly sighted in Kandahar. From what I'm gathering, there are many more like it already operating in Afghani airspace, and presumably neighboring airspace as well.

Added to the already-known fleets of other drones, such as the Predator series, it all makes for a rather historic deployment of unmanned aircraft as a key factor in potentially deciding the outcome of a war.

Perhaps more intriguing, however, is the prospect of what hasn't yet been disclosed. After all, the "Beast of Kandahar" is at least two years old.

A lot can happen in two years.

I wonder if its related to these? These are pictures of Lockheed Martin's Polecat UAV.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c91a9cd1c883.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f21f94f27284.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by MikeboydUS If anything, going from the evidence, Polecat borrowed from the UAV/UCAV in the picture (assumed to be the Sentinel). That was an offshoot of the DarkStar program. After DarkStar crashed, it went classified and changes were made. There is evidence that the assumed to be Sentinel was over Iraq as early as 2003. Polecat wasn`t unveiled until 2006.

[edit on 12/9/2009 by Zaphod58]

Originally posted by FritosBBQTwist
We had nukes being deployed in the 40's.

A satellite in space in the 50's.

Internet in the 60's (private at the time).

Yadda yadda.

This sort of thing does not surprise me at all. I mean come on...we have friggin lasers that can give you perfect vision. Landed a damn man on the moon.

The LHC.

I see teenagers talking about parallel universes (not saying it is real or not).

Do not underestimate humanity.

A race went on a rampage and tried to wipe out another race, genocide has killed millions.

Thousands of people are dying in the middle east in the name of greed and coercion.

We are destroying the planet, our very source of everything, in the name of letting guys in suits smoke $200 cigars.

Almost all of our new technology is being produced as a more effective way of killing people.

I see teenagers talking about beating kids with red hair because they are different than them.
Do not underestimate humanity's evil tendency.


[edit on 9-12-2009 by Happyfeet]

www.airforce-technology.com...