According to what was reported by numerous international military newspapers, the capture operation of Nicolas Maduro and his wife in Venezuela by the USA it would also have been possible thanks to the use of a particular drone, theRQ-170 Sentinel. It is a remotely piloted vehicle (UAV) also known as the “Beast of Kandahar” and usually used to provide continuous surveillance of extremely sensitive targets in complex contexts – despite the US Department of Defense has not yet officially confirmed this information.
Designed by Skunk Works, a division of Lockheed Martin, typically operates at an altitude of around 15km and it is estimated to measure approximately 27 m Of length For 1.80 Of height. We talk about “estimates” because the official measurements are not public and the data were hypothesized starting from images captured over the years. In any case, despite its far from contained measures, the 90% about the materials it is made of would be composites, allowing the overall weight to be significantly reduced. A thermo-optical camera is also installed under the front section of the fuselage which is capable of acquiring images and videos of the battlefield or the target in real time, managing to send all the data to a receiving station using satellites.
Precisely thanks to these characteristics, the vehicle has also been used to May 2011 in Pakistan during the raid on the complex Osama bin Laden and, for the same reason, it would also have been used to capture Maduro, providing images and videos of the target in real time and allowing optimal coordination of operations.
