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(Redirected from Phantom Ray)
Stealth unmanned combat air vehicle
The Boeing Phantom Ray is an American demonstration stealthunmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) developed by Boeing. The autonomous Phantom Ray is a flying wing around the size of a conventional fighter jet, and first flew in April 2011. It will conduct a program of test flights involving surveillance, ground attack and autonomous aerial refueling missions. The developers say it can carry 4,500 pounds (2,040 kg) of payload.
Design and development
The Phantom Ray project, internally referred to as "Project Reblue" at Boeing, was initially conceived in mid-2007 and officially commenced in June 2008. The project was secret within the company, except for a small number of executives and engineers, until May 2009.
The Phantom Ray was unveiled on May 10, 2010, in St. Louis, Missouri. In November 2010, low-speed taxi tests were carried out in St. Louis. The demonstrator aircraft was to perform ten test flights over six months, supporting missions such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defenses; seek-and-destroy; electronic attack; hunter/killer; and autonomous aerial refueling. Boeing anticipated that the Phantom Ray would be the first of a series of new prototype aircraft.
The Phantom Ray was scheduled to make its maiden flight in December 2010 from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, but this was later rescheduled, and the aircraft first flew on April 27, 2011, from Edwards AFB, having been carried there by the Boeing 747Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The Phantom Ray flew to 7,500 feet and reached a speed of 178 knots, flying for a total of 17 minutes.
