The Northrop Grumman RQ-180 is an American stealth unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveillance aircraft intended for contested airspace.
The RQ-180 may also be related to the expansion of Northrop Grumman's production facility at United States Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.
The USAF also does not want to buy and maintain large numbers of MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper systems in order to have an aircraft that would have the ability to penetrate denied airspace and persistently provide ISR coverage.
[7] Lockheed Martin is developing its own solution to the problem of operating an ISR in defended airspace, known as the SR-72, that relies on flying at hypersonic speeds.
[5] A hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft would have inferior stealth features due to heat stress on radar absorbent materials and would thus be detected earlier.
The RQ-180 is believed to be about the size of the Global Hawk, which weighs 32,250 lb (14,630 kg), and have similar capabilities of endurance (24 hours) and range (12,000 nmi (14,000 mi; 22,000 km)).
It has superior all-aspect, broadband radar cross-section reduction features compared to previous stealth aircraft such as the F-117 Nighthawk, F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II.
[3] Aviation Week constructed concept images, including one on the cover of the magazine, of the stealthy unmanned aircraft that can penetrate an adversary's state-of-the-art air defenses to conduct intelligence, surveillance or reconnaissance missions.