Skunk Works and legends are still living

RQ-170 "Sentinel"

Skunk Works and legends are still living

Things like COVID-19 have given a very good shield to testing new systems for U.S Military. The new jet fighter has been secretly built and tested in U.S airforce test-flight areas, and the MQ-170 "Sentinel" drone has been spotted many times near the "Plant 42", what locates near Palmdale California. That thing means that there could be something, that people even imagined. The thing is that if military operators are showing that kind of thing, we must ask, what is the thing, what those people don't tell to the great public.

The thing is that things like RQ-4 "Global Hawk" drones are needed the updates, like stealth operative capacity. That means that the weapon research teams are operated diligently during the COVID-19 because the media watches in another direction.

As I have written many times, the things that are not told about the aircraft or other military systems are usually more important, than the things, that are told to people. And one thing is also important to know. Military forces are entirety, where are many types of systems and highly specialized people, who are working in different duties, and every duty in that organization is important.

So the working of entirety is necessary, and that means that not only some drone or some multirole jet-fighter are not alone saving the day. That means that the arms race has brought things like drone swarms to the battlefield, but there is also counter weapons like high-power electromagnetic impulses, what mission is to deny the communication between drones in the drone swarms. But also things like automatized shotgun-type ammunition or shrapnel ammunition of the AA-batteries can be effective against drone swarms. But a single drone is easy to shoot down by using shotguns.

But things like "wingman drones" are the new thing in the combat zone. The "wingman drone" could have a mission to pull enemy missiles to it. Or they can be missiles, what have "kamikaze"-role in the attack. That means that they can be the missiles, which have an air-combat mission. Those wingman drones can be similar to manned aircraft, and they can operate independently, or the backseater of the jet fighter can control them. The idea of the "wingman" drone is that if it operates with the stealth jets, that drone gives stronger radar echo than the attack aircraft.

Sources:

Air forces new jet-fighter:

Loyal wingman drone:

https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/loyal-wingman-unmanned-aircraft/

Plant 42:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_Plant_42

Stealth-drones:

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/it%E2%80%99s-safe-bet-us-air-force-buying-stealth-spy-drones-127767

RQ-170 drone:

https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/rq-170-sentinel/

Skunk-works:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36470/notoriously-shy-rq-170-spy-drone-lands-at-its-skunk-works-birthplace