Can someone identify this aircraft ?

Hello everyone, I hope you're all doing very well.

I decided to start this thread to maybe know what aircraft is in this picture.



So a little bit of context :
-This picture was taken around the 25th of July 2020 in the mojave desert near Palmdale, California
-I am NOT the author of this picture, it was actually posted on a palmdale spotting group on facebook before it was removed by the admins a couple of hours later. They later posted a message to not post picture of unclassified airframes, or something around those lines.
- Since I am not the author of this picture and that I don't remember the name of the author, I'd be more than happy to mention his name if someone find it. And if the author comes across this thread and want it to be removed, just message me and I will.

That being said I will just give my personal thought about it, it's only my opinion and nothing else :
-I don't think it is anything secret or black since it was taken in broad daylight leaving contrails above populated areas that are known to have a lot of spotters.
-It looks like a small UAV, single engine with relatively straight wings, so definitly not high speed
-To me it is most likely a test or target drone but I have no evidence of that.

Once again it is probably nothing crazy but since it is something that I'm not able to identify (like name, model ect), it just makes me curious. I'm always interested in learning about new stuffs !

Thank you very much for reading me !

Ghoul

There is also this picture but the quality isn't the best and It apparently was a little edited to be able to see it better.

a reply to: Ghoul

ZAPH!!
Edit: yeah I'm wrong, the fuselage is completely different.

Hmmmm... closest I can figure, but I know I'm wrong.
www.alamy.com... 4A89-B150-4EBFFDBFBFEE&p=380425&n=0&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&IsFromSearch=1&srch=foo%3dbar%26st%3d0%26pn%3d1%26ps%3d100%26sortby%3d2%26resultvi ew%3dsortbyPopular%26npgs%3d0%26qt%3dskunk%2520works%26qt_raw%3dskunk%2520works%26lic%3d3%26mr%3d0%26pr%3d0%26ot%3d0%26creative%3d%26ag%3d0%26hc%3d0%2 6pc%3d%26blackwhite%3d%26cutout%3d%26tbar%3d1%26et%3d0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3d0%26loc%3d0%26imgt%3d0%26dtfr%3d%26dtto%3d%26size%3d0xFF%26archive %3d1%26groupid%3d%26pseudoid%3d%26a%3d%26cdid%3d%26cdsrt%3d%26name%3d%26qn%3d%26apalib%3d%26apalic%3d%26lightbox%3d%26gname%3d%26gtype%3d%26xstx%3d0%2 6simid%3d%26saveQry%3d%26editorial%3d1%26nu%3d%26t%3d%26edoptin%3d%26customgeoip%3d%26cap%3d1%26cbstore%3d1%26vd%3d0%26lb%3d%26fi%3d2%26edrf%3d%26ispr emium%3d1%26flip%3d0%26pl%3d

en.m.wikipedia.org...

The Lockheed Martin/Boeing Tier III- (minus) unpiloted aerial vehicle is inspected by NASA personnel September 14, 1995, following its arrival at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Tier III Minus project utilized Dryden ground facilities during the flight test program. The vehicle was developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and Boeing Defense and Space Group to satisfy a goal of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO) to supply responsive and sustained surveillance and reconnaissance data from anywhere within enemy territory, day or night, in all types of we - Image ID: GER4FC

a reply to: Bigburgh

The picture doesn't match with the RQ-3. In the picture you can see a part of the fueselage (probably with the exhaust) ending aft of the wing, which is not the case with the RQ-3.
Not to say the wings doesn't really match also.

But hey it would have been cool for sure ^^

a reply to: Ghoul

Yes I made the edit to reflect that

The wings arent overly long so not a High Altitude drone..Wasnt there news about them digging a Polecat out and testing it again?

a reply to: Blackfinger
Yes a Polecat was spotted flying again in the same region recently, and I think you're referring to this picture


But when comparing it to the picture of this thread I think we can agree that it doesn't really match and that it doesn't look like a flying wing design at all.

But you're right it seems to have short wings which would kinda rule out the high altitude capability.
Without any reference it can be hard to guess the size but I would bet on something not very big.

a reply to: Ghoul

Interesting picture. I'm surprised the heavies here haven't chimed in with an answer yet.

a reply to: Blackfinger

I thought they only built one Polecat and it crashed. I could be mistaken on both accounts. Could it have just been an RQ-170? I thought that's what it was developed into.

I'll put this out there.

a reply to: JIMC5499

Could be the image is just so zoomed in it's distorted, but the wing root chord looks way to thick to be a SF50.

I'm flying Cirrus and to me the wings doesn't seem to match, the bottom of the fuselage too. And I don't see any V-tail. But maybe the distance, the distortion and angle doesn't help... I'm just not fully convinced of the SF50 but that is just my opinion

I thought they only built one Polecat and it crashed. I could be mistaken on both accounts. Could it have just been an RQ-170? I thought that's what it was developed into.

They built 2..The crashed one wasnt totalled but they did rebuild apparently..Other is hanging up in a museum off memory.Rq170 fuselage is more of a flying wing.Rq180 is supposed to be a scaled down B2 plantform.

originally posted by: Blackfinger

I thought they only built one Polecat and it crashed. I could be mistaken on both accounts. Could it have just been an RQ-170? I thought that's what it was developed into.

They built 2..The crashed one wasnt totalled but they did rebuild apparently..Other is hanging up in a museum off memory.Rq170 fuselage is more of a flying wing.Rq180 is supposed to be a scaled down B2 plantform.

There was another experimental Lockheed Martin unmanned flying wing, the X-44, which paved the way for development of the Polecat but had one turbofan engine.

The RQ-180 kinda reminds me of a half-scale version of the Quartz/AARS, an unbuilt top-secret long-endurance unmanned flying wing able to penetrate Soviet air space in a time of war and identify Soviet mobile ICBMs.

Link:
www.thedrive.com...