Secret US RQ-170 Sentinel drone may have flown at least nine missions over Crimea to gather intelligence on Russian forces

The US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone may have made at least nine flights over the Crimean peninsula and other areas of the Black Sea. This is evidenced by leaked US intelligence documents, the veracity of which has so far been difficult to confirm.

Here's What We Know

The data covers the period from September 2022 to February 2023. In addition to the RQ-170 Sentinel, reconnaissance missions over the Black Sea were carried out by US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-4 Global Hawk drones, a NATO-owned RQ-4 Global Hawk drone, British RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft and French Mirage 2000 fighters.

As we wrote earlier, the authenticity of the document has yet to be confirmed. If the RQ-170 Sentinel did indeed fly over the peninsula, it is not known where the drones took off from and whether they are still carrying out reconnaissance missions now.

A US Air Force spokesman in Europe confirmed that the US was carrying out missions in support of its national interests and those of its allies. However, he declined to comment on details of the reconnaissance missions, including the aircraft used to carry them out.

The US Air Force has around 20-30 RQ-170 Sentinel drones in service. The service confirmed that only the 30th and 44th Reconnaissance Squadrons were armed with the drones. The main deployment site was Creech Base, Nevada, but some time ago the US Air Force began distributing the drones among several military installations.

The RQ-170 can potentially gather more detailed information about the location of enemy forces, as it is more difficult to detect than other aircraft. The Sentinel has special sensors on board for this purpose, including an active phased array radar.

The use of the RQ-170 must be approved personally by US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. This is due to the fact that the drone uses a lot of sensitive American technology that should not fall into enemy hands.

The RQ-170 Sentinel was developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. The US Air Force confirmed its existence only in 2009. Until now the specifications of the drone remain a mystery. As you can see from the illustrations, we don't even have normal pictures of the drone.

Source: The War Zone