Say Hello to the RQ-180

a reply to: TAGBOARD

Page 4 of this thread, early December 2013, has some South Base comments from a few folks, but not Shadowhawk. May be worth a quick look.

a reply to: B2StealthBomber

TTR possible. Don't think Creech quite yet, at least not during the day time. It's pretty easy to spot what's coming in and out of there as the main highway is right next to the runway.

a reply to: Sammamishman

They scratched the paint on one at Creech around the time of the New Mexico mystery. Luckily for them it buffed out.

a reply to: Badgermole42

Nice catch, thanks.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Too bad they couldn't buff out the one in NM.

We still need to get down there and check that sight out.

a reply to: Sammamishman

Yeah we do. That's definitely going to be a long trip to find, but fun.

They scratched the paint on one at Creech around the time of the New Mexico mystery. Luckily for them it buffed out.

Wonder if this is the "other" incident at Edwards.
X56

Have there been any known sightings of the RQ-180?

a reply to: Forensick

Possible by a reporter on a tour of Edwards. There was a report about it on the net somewhere but he indicated that it looked like an oversized RQ-170 with weird skin IIRC.

a reply to: Sammamishman

Wasn't there also that Bing maps image from Edwards with the aircraft that looked exactly like a gray-colored 150% scale RQ-170?

a reply to: Barnalby

Are you talking about this article?

Mystery Flying Wing Spotted at USAF Plant 42

If so, the sighting was not at Edwards AFB, but nearby. The article above was a cross-post by David Cenciotti of Tyler Rogoway's article, whose hyperlink is down. I believe Rogoway moved his site over to Foxtrot Alpha since.

a reply to: TAGBOARD

Whoops, it was plant 42, my bad. But yeah, that's the bird I was referring to.

And it was still an RQ-170 looking craft, but bigger, gray-colored, and without the -170's "humps"...

It look more triangular and look the wingspan of the shelter nothing to do with a RQ-170 style.

a reply to: TAGBOARD

I don't think that's the RQ-180 in that photo. That shelter is only about 76 ft across and the -180 is supposedly about 130ft. What ever is in that shelter has a wingspan similar to the RQ-170's (66 ft) if it isn't just an optical trick generated by the wall in the back of that shelter. That particular shelter is fairly easy to see from the main road as well.

a reply to: Sammamishman

Just as an example, here is the shelter in question as seen on Google street views. Oh, and it looks like there happened to be someone home at the time as well.

May be a 6th gen fighter prototype the size of the shelter can match it. May be the same period of the photograph take it who know ?
Sammamichman, for sure there is something in it what it may be , I don't think of a X-47 b?

a reply to: darksidius

They're nowhere near having a sixth generation prototype. They haven't even sent out the requirements, how can you build something without knowing what it's supposed to do.

a reply to: Zaphod58
All right so what can be in the shelter ? When you look at the size impossible to put a Global hawk in it or a large flying wing ? And for sure there is some sort of plane in it on the two pictures.

a reply to: darksidius

It's a UAV. Could be the X-47, could be something we don't know about.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Don't you think it could be a subscale or mockup of a LRS-B demonstrator ?