JOSEPH TREVITHICK
The U.S. Air Force is planning to retire its remaining RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance drones by the end of the 2027 Fiscal Year. The service says it has become clear that the RQ-4s would be overly vulnerable in any future conflict against a peer or near-peer adversary, but it's not clear what aircraft (or other assets) might fill the resulting capability gap. This only adds to the growing evidence that a top-secret, high-flying, stealth spy drone, commonly referred to as the RQ-180, or variants or derivatives thereof, is getting close to entering service, if it isn't already being employed operationally on some level.
Breaking Defense was the first to report on the Air Force's plans to sunset the last of its Global Hawks in the next five years after obtaining a letter sent from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) to Northrop Grumman, the manufacturer of the drones. The service subsequently confirmed that the goal is to have this divestment process completed no later than the conclusion of the 2027 fiscal cycle, which ends on Sept. 30 of that year. This would include the retirement of the Air Force's nine Block 40 variants, which are the most modern versions of the Global Hawk it has in its inventory now.
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