RQ-170 Sentinel
Country: 
United StatesManufacturer: Lockheed Martin Skunk Works
The Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel is the USAF's most secretive stealth ISR drone: a low-observable flying-wing nicknamed 'Beast of Kandahar', it overflew Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in 2011 during Operation Neptune Spear.
The Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel is the USAF's most secretive stealth ISR drone: a low-observable flying-wing nicknamed 'Beast of Kandahar', it overflew Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in 2011 during Operation Neptune Spear.
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- Unverified
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Identity
- Designation
- RQ-170 Sentinel
- Alias
- Beast of Kandahar
- Manufacturer
- Lockheed Martin Skunk Works
- Country
- United States
- Year
- 2007
- Category
- ISR (Reconnaissance)
- Class
- MALE (Medium-altitude / long-endurance)
- Status
- In service
Performance
- Range
- 2400 km
- Endurance
- ~6 h
- Top speed
- Subsonico (~600 km/h)
- Service ceiling
- 15,240 m
- Propulsion
- Turbofan singolo (classificato, Garrett TFE731 stimato)
Physical characteristics
- MTOW
- 3856 kg
- Payload
- 200 kg
Onboard systems
- Sensors
- EO/IR, SAR, SIGINT, raccolta WMD atmospheric sampling
- Datalink / control
- SATCOM stealth-link LPI/LPD
- Launch
- Decollo da pista
- Recovery
- Atterraggio automatico su pista
Combat use
- ▸Afghanistan (2007-) — stealth surveillance of Taliban and Al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan
- ▸Operation Neptune Spear (May 2011) — overwatch of the SEAL Team 6 raid in Abbottabad
- ▸Iran (December 2011) — RQ-170 lost near Kashmar (cloned as the Saegheh)
- ▸North Korea (2014-) — surveillance of the Yongbyon nuclear sites
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History
Secretly developed by Skunk Works in Palmdale from the early 2000s, it was first photographed in 2007 in Kandahar (Afghanistan), earning the 'Beast of Kandahar' nickname.
In December 2011 an RQ-170 was captured nearly intact by Iran via GPS spoofing near Kashmar. Iran developed the Saegheh clone, later exported to Russia and Hezbollah.
On the development side, the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel is the most classified stealth drone in USAF service: designed by Skunk Works in Palmdale as a low-observable flying-wing, it flies with the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Tonopah Test Range and the CIA Special Activities Center.
On the penetrating ISR front, the 'Beast of Kandahar' provides stealth reconnaissance in contested airspace (Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, China) and played a key role in Operation Neptune Spear in Abbottabad (2 May 2011) for the raid against Osama bin Laden.
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