While the USAF has released few details on the UAV's design or capabilities, defense analysts believe that it is a stealth aircraft fitted with aerial reconnaissance equipment.

Journalists have noted design similarities between the RQ-170 and previous stealth and UAV programs such as the Lockheed Martin RQ-3 DarkStar and Polecat.

[10] Aviation Week & Space Technology's David A. Fulghum believes that the UAV is probably a "tactical, operations-oriented platform and not a strategic intelligence-gathering design".

[14] On the basis of the few publicly available photographs of the RQ-170, aviation expert Bill Sweetman has assessed that the UAV is equipped with an electro-optical/infrared sensor and possibly an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar mounted in its belly fairing.

Phil Finnegan, a UAV analyst at an aerospace consulting firm, suggests the stealth capabilities of the Sentinel are being used to fly in nearby countries.

[25] On 2 May 2011, at least one RQ-170 monitored the area while elements of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group launched an assault on the compound which resulted in bin Laden's death.

The aircraft provided footage of the attack which was watched live by President Barack Obama and his senior national security advisors.

[26] On 27 May the Los Angeles Times reported that Pakistani officials were "alarmed" by the use of the RQ-170 over their country as the drones are "designed to evade radar and other surveillance systems, and can be used as a spy plane".

[18] On 6 December, U.S. officials acknowledged that a drone crashed in or near Iranian airspace and that it belonged to the CIA, and not to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as was earlier stated by the US government.

[34][35] In April 2012, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aerospace division, claimed that Iran had reverse-engineered the RQ-170, and was building a copy of the UAV.

[36][37][38] The semi-official Tasnim news agency of Iran reported in September 2016 that a UAV named Saegheh-2, similar in appearance to the RQ-170 Sentinel, had been built.

Israeli media reported that the UAV's design was indeed largely based on the RQ-170, while IAF Brigadier General Tomer Bar said that the drone was quite advanced and emulated western technology.