The next major stealth plane to fuel future decades of US secret reconnaissance has been revealed — and it wont carry any humans on board. The RQ-180 will be a joint tool for both the US Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency, and promises to capture sensitive intelligence and imagery in highly dangerous airspace, reports Aviation Week. The drones been designed as a spiritual successor of sorts to the SR-71 Blackbird, which was retired in 1998 and will reportedly have its own manned successor by 2018. The RQ-180 should arrive sooner than that, Aviation Week says, with use in missions by 2015. Aviation Week also suggests the design could make use of in-flight refueling, pushing flight times into the 100 hour range.
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