The Beast is back, RQ170 Sentinel
Another great story from the Wired Danger room, apparently the Beast of Kandahar is back.
It returns from the skies! Back in 2009, the Air Force confirmed that it had a mysterious stealth drone, the Lockheed RQ-170, flying over Kandahar in Afghanistan — the subject of much online speculation and grainy photography. Now, after something of a lull, the Secret Projects forum has new pics of the drone that Ares aviation ace Bill Sweetman dubbed “The Beast of Kandahar.”
Not much is known about the Beast. It’s not believed to carry any missiles, and the new photographs don’t indicate that it’s armed. And as David Hambling wrote at Danger Room at the time, it’s a mystery why the stealth Beast even patrols Kandahar, given all the other drones in the skies above and the Taliban’s lack of radar.
