Skip to main content

Boeing’s Phantom Ray UCAV Makes Its First Flight




Boeing’s Phantom Ray UCAV technology demonstrator has now made its first flight, potentially paving the way for the next generation of unmanned aircraft designs to be developed.

The Phantom Ray’s maiden flight occurred on 27 April and saw it launch from Edwards Air Force Base in California: the USAF’s main technology testing site.

The stealthy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle spent a total of 17 minutes in the air and reached an altitude of 7,500 feet and a top speed of 178 knots, while the flight followed a recent collection of taxi trials carried out earlier in the year. These ground runs served to test a number of Phantom Ray capabilities, including its mission planning and navigational features.

The Phantom Ray first flight has now proved the design’s fundamental airworthiness and its ability to be controlled autonomously. A programme of subsequent flight tests is scheduled for coming weeks and this will explore a host of different modern-day operational tactics and procedures, including air defence suppression, air-to-air refuelling, strike and surveillance.

The Boeing Phantom Ray project was initialised in 2007 and took its lead from the same firm’s X-45C technology demonstrator. Boeing intends for it to be the first member of a future UCAV prototype family and, so far, only the one example has been built.

For many months, the Phantom Ray development programme was kept under wraps and, even at Boeing’s facilities, only a very small number of engineers and officials were made aware of it. All that changed in May 2010, when the prototype was unveiled to the world during an official roll-out ceremony.

The first flight of the Boeing Phantom Ray UCAV represents the culmination of many months work, as a company representative explained in a press release.

“This day has been two-and-a-half years in the making”, Boeing Phantom Works President, Darryl Davis, stated. “It's the beginning of providing our customers with a test bed to develop future unmanned systems technology, and a testament to the capabilities resident within Boeing. Just as follow-on tests will expand Phantom Ray's flight envelope, they also will help Boeing expand its presence in the unmanned systems market.”

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF

PLA’s new DF-5B Liquid-Fuel ICBM Can Hit Any Target On Earth

China is believed to be developing a new DF-5B liquid-fuel missile that will be able to strike any target on the planet, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily. The People’s Liberation Army’s current or in-development arsenal of long-range strategic intercontinental missiles (ICBMs) are led by the DF-31A, the DF-41 and the JL-2, all of which feature solid-fuel rockets. The DF-31A, with a range of 10,000 kilometers, can reach the west coast of the United States. The DF-41 has a longer operational range of 12,000-15,000 kilometers and can carry three or more warheads, though the missile is still in the testing phase. The JL-2, which has an estimated operation of up to 8,000 km, can only be fired from a submarine at sea. US and Japanese media report that China may have recently tested two ICMBs, the DF-41 and and the DF-5A. Military commentator Gao Feng believes that the firing of the DF-41 was part of regular testing, though the DF-5A test was likely part of basic re

Mossad & CIA Committed 9-11: Italian President Francesco Cossiga

Source: http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=114778 Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga, who revealed the existence of Operation Gladio, has told Italy’s oldest and most widely read newspaper that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were run by the CIA and Mossad, and that this was common knowledge among global intelligence agencies. The evidence that Mossad planned 911 using Arab patsies is overwhelming; Mossad were caught filming the attack from Liberty Park and then later said on Israeli TV that they were sent there to document (they along with nearly 200 Mossad were rounded up and sent back to Israeli in the weeks following the attack, preventing the FBI from questioning them). Only 5 Israeli's died in the WTC attack; 3 on the airplanes and 2 in the buildings. It is a fact unexplainable by Zionists apologists that Idigo, and Israeli messaging service sent a warning in Hebrew worldwide that a terror attack would happen in a few hours on the da