US new unmanned reconnaissance aircraft quietly launched into battle

2023-04-06

The U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and RQ-4 drones will be "quietly launched" by the retired US new unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, the US Air Force RQ-180 drone. According to foreign media reports, the US Air Force plans to retire all U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and some outdated RQ-4 Global Hawk drones by 2026. These two reconnaissance planes were installed in 1956 and 2001 respectively, and are the high-altitude intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms of the US Air Force, with long-range and long-range capabilities. As a successor, the RQ-180 drone has strong comprehensive performance and rich operational scenarios. Once heavily equipped, its threat cannot be underestimated. Retirement "is not accidental. In recent years, the US Air Force has redesigned its future military structure to cope with the so-called" big country competition "and accelerated the iteration of weapon equipment updates. In this context, the retirement of U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and RQ-4 drones is not accidental. Not adapted to changes in combat opponents. The US military has always adhered to the equipment development concept of "leading the opponent generation", innovated operational concepts, and developed globally leading weapons and equipment. The US Air Force believes that although the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and RQ-4 drones can approach reconnaissance, their survival ability in future high-end wars is worrying. From the allocation of defense budgets in recent years, the US Air Force is accelerating the retirement of a group of weapon platforms that cannot operate in high adversarial environments. Not adapting to changes in the operational environment. The US military describes the future battlefield as a "high adversarial environment", in which the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft no longer has a survival advantage. The RQ-4 drone also faces similar challenges. In June 2019, after Iran shot down an RQ-4A drone, the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force stated that "although traditional ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) platforms are indispensable, RQ-4 does not have sufficient survivability and must be phased out..." does not adapt to the changing operational requirements. With the implementation of agile operations, penetrating air control, and distributed combat concepts by the US Air Force, networked, digital, and systematic platforms will be the weapon platforms to win future high-end wars. For U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and RQ-4 drones, it is difficult to achieve the above capabilities through upgrades. The RQ-180 drone, which has been developing and installing in a low-key manner and targeting future high-end wars, has the greatest possibility of becoming its successor model. The advantage of "successor" is prominent. It is reported that the RQ-180 drone was developed by the US Air Force and manufactured by Northrop Grumman. The aircraft made its first flight in 2010, underwent operational testing and evaluation in California and Nevada in 2014, and served in the 427 Reconnaissance Squadron of the US Air Force's Bill Air Force Base in California in 2019. From project approval to a small number of installations, the machine has been kept confidential. It is reported that the RQ-180 UAV adopts a Blended wing body layout. The body is composed of aluminum alloy parts and carbon fiber/epoxy composite skin. The wingspan is 40 meters, the maximum flight height is 18000 meters, the longest flight time is 24 hours, and the longest flight distance is 20000 kilometers. It has omnidirectional broadband stealth capability. The aircraft is equipped with active phased array radar, passive electronic monitoring and measurement devices, etc

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