Is this the RQ-180?

Is this the RQ-180?

Black Projects are something of the exciting, wild west edge of aircraft development.  Their secrecy makes them wildly appealing, that which you are not supposed to know!  Their development happens far, far faster than in the open, so-called White Projects like the F-22 or F-35.  Turn around can be as fast as two to three years from the go button to an operational platform in the Black World, while the White World took almost two decades to get the F-35 into its initially operating capability status.  This makes the Black Projects a thing of excitement and mystery.  And something aviation watchers really, really want to find.

Most famously of the Black Projects is the F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational stealth aircraft.  More recently, the RQ-170 is another case of a black project that launched itself into the light in Kandahar, Afghanistan.  For a short time, it was called the Beast of Kandahar.  The remaining tail of the so-called stealth hawk used in the raid to kill Osama bin laden gave away its existence when special forces attempted to destroy it, but were only mostly successful.

On December 9th, 2013, Aviation Week ran an article on the existence of a much bigger UAV, one they dubbed the RQ-180.  It is supposed to be a flying wing or potentially a cranked kite aircraft.  The aircraft is supposed to be a high altitude recon UAV.  The manufacturer was supposed Northrop Grumman.  Once this aircraft was claimed to existed, the aviation watchers had themselves a new white whale.

One that may have been found.

In July 2018, I was approached by a some individuals I have been speaking with for a couple years now who have been camping outside of airbases in the Mojave snapping pictures.  Their hope and dream is to find and photograph a black aircraft that exist but are kept in secret from the world during the development and use.  If you have ever seen the movie Broken Arrow, the comment about guys in lawn chairs is pretty damned accurate.

The individuals I have been speaking with had established their bonafides before, discussing their finds and pictures for a couple years now, providing real, recent white world pictures and information that would come out about other systems days ahead of the publication curve.  I've been discreet about it.  One does not burn sources.

They think they found something, potentially the RQ-180.  Then "Zaphod58" provided the images.

The images were taken at night and the aircraft pictured looks a lot like the B-2.  The enthusiasts spent a good amount of time, weeks now, trying to prove to themselves it was not a B-2.  Some of their preliminary results are interesting.  They have convinced themselves it is not a B-2.  

They did NOT convince the USAF officially at least.  The photography enthusiasts reached out to the USAF to make sure they wouldn't get in trouble for publishing their photos: the time, date and information of where photos were taken was provided to the USAF.  The USAF responded and sent a review team. They USAF officially came back stating the aircraft is a B-2.  There was one B-2 at Edwards at the time.  However, the analysis the team did suggests the pictured aircraft is not a B-2.  However, it strongly suggests why the aircraft if, this is indeed an RQ-180, hasn't been spotted despite its size: it really, really looks like a B-2.  There are differences, but ones that would not be plainly visible to non AvGeeks.

The differences noted are.

1.  The nose gear is wrong for the B-2.

2.  The central fuselage is narrower than on the B-2.

3.  The intakes appear to be further apart from the center fuselage than on the B-2.

4.  The wingspan appears to be different than the B-2, 132 ft vs 172 ft.

5.  There appears to be a central, singular center line bomb bay.  The B-2 has two slightly off center symmetrically placed bomb bays.

6.  The engines were powered up at one point, but some of the secondary inlets were not open as would it would be on a B-2 on the ground.

Amongst others.

One of the striking bits that someone ought to take note of is bomb bay.  The AvWeek article indicated the RQ-180 was a high altitude recon aircraft.  A bomb bay would most likely mean the RQ-180 is a dual use, recon and strike platform.  Some have wondered why there seems to be a lack of any sort of evidence for a black strike UAV.  This might be why.  It was sitting under the noses of people thinking they were looking for a recon aircraft when it was really both.

Other noticeable differences as per above are the landing gear. On the B-2, the landing gear is attached to the strut. The people who photographed and analyzed the aircraft in the photos think the land gear does not appear to do so here. The central fuselage is narrower, but the entire aircraft appears to be 4 ½ feet lower than the B-2.

When presented with something like this, you need to ask how to either prove it beyond a doubt or look for flaws.  I thought I might see a way for both.

I did ask to see if they could run some imagery analysis, even rudimentary ones, for something specific.  The RQ-180 is supposed to be a flying wing or a cranked kite.  If it was a cranked kite, then it could be possible to detect the join where the wing meets the body of the aircraft.  This would be hard to refute proof the aircraft photographed was an RQ-180. Unfortunately, the Mojave even at night was too hot and distorted the imagery too much to be able to detect whether there was a join.

I also flagged what might be another bomb bay door and asked them to be sure.  They did some more analysis and came back convinced it is actually the power coming in via cables.

Neither the definitively pro RQ-180 was passed (can't tell if this is a cranked kite or not) nor was the refutation either: the possible bomb bay door, indicating two bays consistent with a B-2, seems to have been a bust as well.  Neither was strong either way.  So, the above, while interesting isn't quite a slam dunk.

With the response from the USAF being so 'meh,' the team then sent off the pictures for imagery analysis.  Unfortunately, that path too turned out inconclusive.  Could the differences in the pictures actually be just distortions caused by the July heat of Edwards AFB?  While possible, it doesn't seem to be the case.

That said, this looks like it is interesting and could very well be the RQ-180.  It makes sense why the RQ-180 has been able to be cloaked in secrecy for another 5 years after AvWeek made their claim on its existence: it looks a lot like a B-2.  For someone not an AvGeek or pro, this flying at night would be really, really hard to distinguish from a B-2, especially if it is 'just' a flying wing.  The inlets, for that matter, appear to have been recycled from the B-2 program.  If they work, reuse makes perfect sense.  Other parts are probably as well.  

Ironically, the USAF's response might actually be the strongest supporting evidence.  If the RQ-180 was not on the ground that night, they'd have not bothered sending anyone to check out what was photos were taken?  When they reviewed the photos, they might have just felt it was equivocal enough they need not bother.

The other possibility is that this was an early form of the B-21 Raider.  There are rumors a demonstrator was built by each team.  This then might be the winning demo.  That's the stance David Cenciotti at The Aviationist is taking.  He feels it is less likely to be a RQ-180 than a B-21 prototype.  From what I have heard in rumors about the B-21.  The inlets appear wrong, for one.  The photographed aircraft has more in common with the B-2, but, as noted, is has significant differences.

Is this the RQ-180?  Very strong maybe.  I think so, but I am not religiously convinced.  This was an amazing find and some great pix. We await newer, clearer pictures and/or the USAF coming clean to know for sure.