The RQ-170 Sentinel went from “Beast of Kandahar” enigma to Bin Laden-catching fame to crashing into Iranian hands, all in about half a decade. Since then, there have beenand little official talk as to its existence. Yet these pictures may prove that the RQ-170, or an enhanced version of it, is capable of aerial refueling.

These images, obtained from a source that wishes to remain anonymous (and one that I would rate as good), show what appears to be the semi-autonomous (flown in a point and click manner from a desktop-like interface or totally on autopilot) RQ-170 ormoving into pre-contact position behind an aerial tanker. The source also relayed to me that these photos were shot before the tanker plugged into the jet and started feeding it gas.

So what exactly were those mysterious "flying Doritos" booking it high over the Texas Panhandle,…

This video gives you an idea of what the much larger B-2 Spirit flying-wing stealth bomber looks like refueling as a comparison:

There have been, and the technology has clearly been something that the USAF has been interested in developing. It seems to have been that date, before going quiet in recent years. This may be a sign that the capability finally went from public testing to secret operation. Otherwise, the technology shown to the public, with Boeing being one contractor for the system around the 2006 time frame and Northrop Grumman being the contractor around 2011, is really to test improved autonomous boom refueling methods, not to pioneer the idea from scratch.

It is one of the coolest jobs in the entire U.S. military, "Booms" as they are affectionately…

If in fact the USAF has been refueling semi-autonomous unmanned aircraft for years in an operational, or even a testing manner, that revelation would make theAlthough, the X-47B’s probe and drogue method of aerial refueling does represent unique challenges that the boom and receptacle method does not. As such, the X-47B’s accomplishment should still be seen as a remarkable move into the unmanned combat aircraft realm.

The Navy’s unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator, the X-47B, not only plugged into a refueling…

I was the first aviation journalist to come out with while many others claimed the aircraft shown was a fake. Well over , I have to stress that advanced unmanned aircraft of the future will look more like movie props than traditional combat aircraft. This is a result of advanced, large and continuous structure composite construction capabilities

It is one of Lockheed Skunk Work’s least glamorous projects, and it looks a lot like a Dornier…

Additionally, the Sentinel almost surely has grown up in what is probably approaching a decade or more of service. Has it migrated from spy drone to unmanned combat air vehicle? Possibly, and a for some time, for which Lockheed may have based its ‘Sea Ghost’ concept for the Navy’s UCLASS program, a production follow-on contract to the experimental

The photo below, obtained through a FOIA request by our friends at , that I identified as being taken at Andersen AFB in Guam, shows a Sentinel variation that has evolved from its lighter colored CIA cousin lost to the Iranians in 2011. Additionally, the very reason for it to be fully assembled and flying out of the remote island of Guam is suspect as well as it is considered a medium altitude, medium endurance unmanned system. This means it does not possess the extreme range of its We know that there have , with the Global Hawk having to be based at Guam, or now Japan, to fly North Korean missions. At the same time, the RQ-170 was rumored to have performed missions over North Korea. Maybe the tanker photos shown today can answer the question of how such a mission was accomplished if the semi-autonomous drones have not been cleared to fly out of South Korean airspace.

The Global Hawk has been flying for close to 15 years, and its development has been a twisting road

So what do you think? Are these pictures legitimate or just Photoshop fakes, and if you think they are real, how do you see them changing the air combat equation?

Here are the full size images for your analysis: