The U.S. Air Force’s secret stealth reconnaissance drone has been operational since 2017. Now the flying branch is setting up a forward base in Guam in order to support the radar-evading drone on missions over the Pacific region.

The Air Force has never officially acknowledged the existence of the Northrop Grumman-made RQ-180 drone. Trade publication Aviation Week in 2013 broke the news of the drone’s development. The magazine on Oct. 24, 2019 followed up with an in-depth feature tracking the unit changes that could support a fleet of seven RQ-180s.

“There is a growing body of evidence that the stealthy vehicle is now fully operational with the U.S. Air Force in a penetrating intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance role,” Aviation Week reporter Guy Norris wrote.

The flying-wing RQ-180 reportedly is similar in shape to the Northrop-designed B-2. The unmanned aircraft is smaller than the manned bomber is, however, and also features design improvements that Northrop also is including on the new B-21 bomber that the company is building for the Air Force.

The RQ-180 first flew in 2010, Aviation Week reported, finally allowing the Air Force to penetrate enemy air defenses with a far-flying reconnaissance craft. The service last possessed that capability in the late 1990s in the form of the Mach-three SR-71 manned recon plane.

The Air Force reportedly tested the roughly 170-feet-wingspan RQ-180 at Groom Lake, part of the Area 51 complex in Nevada. “In 2009, with Northrop well underway on low-rate initial production of the RQ-180, the Air Force began preparations to evaluate the new vehicle and established a flight-test organization at Groom Lake dubbed the ‘Mad Hatters,’” Norris wrote.

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