Message posted by Vahe Demirjian (Member since 04/28/2022) on July 13, 2024 at 15:44:17 PST:
A new Q-series designation (like, say, RQ-36) could be assigned to the P-ISR unmanned aircraft informally called "RQ-180" when the US Air Force publicly unveils one of the "RQ-180" EMD vehicles. By referring to the "RQ-180" as RQ-XXX in his tweets on X, Freeman subtly hinted that "RQ-180" is not the true designation of the Northrop Grumman unmanned P-ISR flying wing (a February 2009 paper by Colonel Eric Mathewson referred to the "RQ-180" as simply "MQ-L/O", one year before the first flight of the "RQ-180"). In a similar vein, the July 1986 Aviation Week & Space Technology article "USAF Aircraft Destroyed in Crash Believed to Be Stealth Fighter" dropped a hint that the Nighthawk's designation was not F-19, and the January 1988 Armed Forces Journal International article "Is Lockheed Building A Super-Stealth Replacement for USAF's Mach 3 SR-71?" happened to mention F-117 as the true designation for the Nighthawk, 10 months before the F-117's existence was confirmed.
In Reply to: "RQ-180" True Designation? posted by Matt on July 13, 2024 at 11:01:39 PST:
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