Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by Country, Part 4 Codexery

Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel

Stealth reconnaissance UAV operated by the USAF for the CIA.

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It is a tailless flying wing aircraft operated by the United States Air Force for the Central Intelligence Agency.[1][2] The RQ-170 Sentinel, a stealth unmanned aerial vehicle, was created by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works.[2]

How it changed

The RQ-170 was first sighted at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan in late 2007, leading to its nickname "Beast of Kandahar".[3] On 4 December 2011, Iran claimed its electronic warfare unit downed an RQ-170 that violated Iranian airspace.[4] In April 2012, Iran claimed to have reverse-engineered the RQ-170 and was building a copy.[5] During the 2 May 2011 raid on the compound where bin Laden was killed, at least one RQ-170 kept watch over the area.[6]

President Barack Obama and his senior national security advisors observed the attack in real time via video transmitted by the aircraft.[6] To give advance notice of any Pakistani reaction, the RQ-170 intercepted Pakistani military radio communications in the vicinity.[6] On 8 December 2011, Iranian television broadcast footage of a seized RQ-170; U.S. officials verified the footage as authentic that same day.[5][7] Iran subsequently produced the Saegheh-2 and the Shahed 171 Simorgh, both modeled on the captured Sentinel.[5][8]

A test drop of a Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb in October 2012 had its bomb damage assessment carried out by an RQ-170.[9] During the United States intervention in Venezuela in January 2026, at least one RQ-170 was employed.[10]

What the maker and period sources say

Aviation Week estimated in 2009 that the RQ-170 has a wingspan of approximately 66 ft and a takeoff weight greater than the RQ-3 DarkStar's 8500 lb.[11] Aviation Week postulated the design lacks several common stealth elements, suggesting designers avoided "highly sensitive technologies" due to risk of operational loss.[12] The Army manual describes the RQ-170's role as "close-range, day and night surveillance".[13] Bill Sweetman assessed the UAV is equipped with an electro-optical/infrared sensor and possibly an AESA radar in its belly fairing.[14]

The New York Times reported the RQ-170 is "almost certainly" equipped with communications intercept equipment and hyperspectral sensors.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Trevithick, "Declassified Docs Offer New Details About A Growing RQ-170 "Wraith" Force", The Drive, 3 May 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fulghum, "RQ-170 Has Links to Intelligence Loss to China", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 8 December 2009; Lake, "Mystery UAV operation in Afghanistan", UV Online, 10 April 2009; Fulghum, "RQ-170 Has Links to Intelligence Loss to China", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 8 December 2009; Fulghum, "U.S. Air Force Reveals Operational Stealth UAV", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 4 December 2009; Sweetman, "Another Beast Picture", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 11 November 2009; Trevithick, "This U.S. Army Manual Ha en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fulghum, "U.S. Air Force Reveals Operational Stealth UAV", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 4 December 2009; Ukman, "RQ-170: A primer on the 'Beast of Kandahar'", The Washington Post, 8 December 2011; Hambling, "Mysteries Surround Afghanistan's Stealth Drone", 8 December 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Iran shows film of captured US drone", BBC News, 8 December 2011; Miller, "After drone was lost, CIA tried a head fake", The Washington Post, 6 December 2011 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Iran Captures a U.S. Stealth Drone Intact", 8 December 2011; "U.S. officials, analysts differ on whether drone in Iran TV video is real", CNN, 8 December 2011; Orr, "U.S. official: Iran does have our drone", CBS News, 8 December 2011; "Iran Says It Is Building Copy of Captured US Drone", The Times of Israel, 22 April 2012; Myers, "Iranians Say They Took Secret Data From Drone", The New York Times, 22 April 2012; "US RQ-170 Drone Reverse Engineered by Iran", Fars News Agency, 22 September 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Miller, "CIA flew stealth drones into Pakistan to monitor bin Laden house", The Washington Post, 18 May 2011; Richter, "Angry Pakistan rejects U.S. appeal, plans to review drone campaign", Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "Iran shows film of captured US drone", BBC News, 8 December 2011. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
  8. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Iran builds attack drone similar to captured US model, local media say", The Guardian, 2 October 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Trevithick, "U.S. Stealth Drone Helped Test Huge Bomb", Medium, 7 November 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Trevithick, "Lockheed Confirms RQ-170 Sentinel Spy Drones Took Part In Maduro Capture Mission", The War Zone, 2026-01-29 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fulghum, "Stealth over Afghanistan", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 14 December 2009, p. 26–27 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fulghum, "Stealth over Afghanistan", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 14 December 2009, p. 26–27; Fulghum, "Stealth over Afghanistan", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 14 December 2009, p. 26–27; Fulghum, "Stealth over Afghanistan", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 14 December 2009, p. 26–27; Fulghum, "Stealth over Afghanistan", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 14 December 2009, p. 26–27 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Trevithick, "This U.S. Army Manual Has New Official Details About the RQ-170 Sentinel Drone", The Drive, 12 May 2017. facts only, no text reused. thedrive.com
  14. Wikipedia, "Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sweetman, "The Beast is Back", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 25 January 2011; Shane, "Drone Crash in Iran Reveals Secret U.S. Surveillance Effort", The New York Times, 7 December 2011; Ambinder, "U.S. Drone That Went Down in Iran Was High-Tech Intel Tool, Officials Say", The Atlantic, 6 December 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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