Message posted by Peter Merlin on August 26, 2020 at 11:16:47 PST:
I'm still not convinced. For one thing, someone who knows the actual designation recently asked me if I knew what it's really called. The context of that exchange made it clear that they were glad I didn't. Also, calling the penetrating-ISR (P-ISR) vehicle the RQ-180 makes no sense. It's a Northrop Grumman product. The Sentinel became the RQ-170 because someone got lazy and ignored the Mission-Design-Series (MDS) designation system. Lockheed Skunk Works designs have numbers like the P-175 Polecat and P-791 hybrid airship. Clearly, the production version of the P-170 Desert Prowler got slapped with the RQ-170 designation. Perhaps someone decided to give the P-ISR the RQ-180 designation, but it should probably be something more along the lines of RQ-24, or some such. I just haven't seen any convincing evidence one way or the other.
In Reply to: First official mention of the RQ-180 posted by Q-nimbus on August 26, 2020 at 9:20:13 PST:
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