RQ-170 an official USAF designation?

[Vahe Demirjian]

With regards to the designation RQ-170, it's interesting that this designation RQ-170 looks out of sequence in the Q-for-UAV series. The latest UAV assigned was XRQ-22A, so I'm wondering if RQ-170 is an Air Force designation or just an invention by some journalist. If the former, then the allocation of RQ-170 would be reminiscent of the out-of-sequence allocation of F-117.

 

[Firebee]

It is on the official USAF website:


http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=16001

 

[Stargazer]

Possibly an inhouse Lockheed number that was made into a real designation. I think it has been said before (in this topic or elsewhere) that the number "170" is not so far from the number "175", which Lockheed allocated to the Polecat.

This has happened a few times in the past. It could indicate that the aircraft are still under evaluation and company-owned.

 

[Jos Heyman]

A quick Google exercise on RQ-170 seems to indicate that this UAV has been in use for some time but is being used for somewhat covert operations (flying over Iran, for instance). Possibly the '170' was selected to hide this UAV.
It is, however, a sad day when the designation systems get so perverted.