The RQ-170 Sentinel photographed over the California desert in 2021
The “invisible” RQ-170 Sentinel drone is crucial for surveillance operations and capturing high-value targets in conflict scenarios, such as the mission that resulted in the arrest of Maduro and the one that eliminated Osama Bin Laden.
During the early hours of the special operation that culminated in the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, a local observer in Puerto Rico, near the former US naval base of Roosevelt Roads, captured a strange silhouette silently returning to base.
A unmistakable shapesimilar to a boomerang or a ray, was that of the mythical RQ-170 “Sentinel”one of the best kept secrets in the US Air Force.
The photograph confirmed what we now know for certain: at least one or two of these aircraft flew that night to provide the “invisible eyes” that guided the special forces North Americans to their goal.
Without the Sentinel, it would not have been possible to catch the dictator — as happened in May 2011 in mission that put an end to Osama Bin Ladensays .
To understand why the RQ-170 was the key piece in this puzzle, you must first understand the concept of “standards of living”an expression from military jargon that means that, before any special forces element sets foot on land, military intelligence needs to know everything: what time the target eats, when he sleeps, who visits him and how long does it take in the bathroom.
The RQ-170 was specifically designed by the legendary Skunk Works division from Lockheed Martin, the same creators of the mythical U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes, for this role: infiltrate hostile airspace and stay there, observe without being detectedover long periods of time.
How the RQ-170 works
The secrets of its operational capacity lie in its “invisibility” and in the suite of sensors it carries. The RQ-170 is not invisible to the human eye, but It is practically undetectable by radar.
Your tailless flying wing design and the special materials they scatter radar waves instead of reflecting them toward the enemy, allowing them to operate in what the military calls “contested environments“. O RQ-170 does not carry missiles or cannons: Your power is in design.
While flying invisibly and silently at high altitude, the Sentinel uses a electronic scanning radar asset that basically gives it the “senses” of a bat: the radar emits invisible radio waves that, when reflected off the ground, create synthetic aperture images (SAR) with photographic quality, even through clouds, and a ground moving target detection system (GMTI) capable of highlighting any movement.
During , the RQ-170 became the omniscient master. Its electro-optical and infrared cameras transmitted live video, allowing operators detect unexpected threats before they have a chance to react.
This ability to real-time data transmission it was what linked the operation on the ground to the Oval Office of the White House. As President Donald Trump himself confirmed: “I could see everything in real time and I followed every detail of what was going on.” Without this vital connection, it would have been practically impossible.
A, which included the construction of a full-scale replica of his hideout and the infiltration of a CIA teamit is almost a copy of the one used in 2011 in the operation that eliminated Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. On that occasion, just like in Venezuela, an RQ-170 watched from above, invisible and silent.
Photograph of an RQ-170 Sentinel at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam — the only official photograph of the “Beast of Kandahar”
Known initially as “To Besta of Kandahar” after being spotted in Afghanistan, the drone has also monitored Iran’s nuclear program – where one unit was lost in 2011 — and operated near North Korean airspace and possibly over the Black Sea to surveil Russian forces in Crimea.
O RQ-170 is already a veteran modelwith at least two decades of service. It’s not the most advanced stealth technology in the U.S. arsenal, but its reliability keeps you operational.
The Sentinel fleet is small, estimated at between only 20 to 30 units in total, operated exclusively by the 30th and 44th Reconnaissance Squadrons of the 432nd Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.
Maduro’s capture shows that sometimes the success of a military operation depends on a simple aircraft Able to infiltrate the enemy’s backyard and maintain surveillance and collect essential information — without being detected.
