The service has never officially acknowledged the existence of the northrop
grumman-produced RQ-180, which is believed to have first flown in 2010 and
which may have been deployed near china last year as well.
However while a few details are known about the flying wing platform, it
isn't the first stealth drone employed by the air force.
A Darkstar is born
Nearly 25 years ago the RQ-3 Darkstar took its first flight, but a year
later the first prototype crashed during its second flight and not in the
going down in a blaze of blurry kind of way.
It was more of a suggestion that the bugs had to be worked on the highly
advanced, stealthy reconnaissance Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA).
Developed under the advanced airborne reconnaissance system program the rq3
was designed to operate in high threat environments. the aircraft
incorporated stealth aircraft technology that could allow it operate within
highly defended airspace.
That was in contrast to the RQ-4 Global hawk, which could only operate in
airspace where the united states essentially had air supremacy. A second
prototype was constructed and took part in a total of five flights beginning
in mid-1998 before the program was cancelled a year later just prior to an
airworthiness test flight.
An Autonomous Spy Plane
The Darkstar was also notable in that it was a fully autonomous platform
that could take off, fly to its target, operate its sensors, transmit
information, return and land without any human intervention.
By utilizing digital links to transmit sensor images, Darkstar could also
provide timely information across the globe and if needed ground station
operators could still take control of the RPA from anywhere in the world
using satellite links.
It had a reported 575 mile range and a flight time of eight hours. More wing
less star unlike the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) developed at the time
the dark star is noted for its disc-like fuselage which was well contoured
and quite squat in its general profile.
It featured straight wing appendages with a wingspan of 69 feet in length
and a height of 3 feet, 6 inches.
Weighing a beefy 8,500 pounds the rq3 dark star was powered by a Williams
Rolls FJ44-1A engine that offered a takeoff thrust of 1900 pounds. It
provided a cruising speed of 288 miles per hour and a service ceiling of
45,000 feet.
A total of four were built, including the first prototype that crashed. The
program was ended because of the cost but also due to aerodynamic stability
problems.
While a unique autonomous drone the dark star could be a testament of the
unmanned systems to come rather than a failure. All three of the surviving
prototypes are now housed in various aviation museums including.
