Boeing aims sky-high with 'Phantom Ray'

The aerospace giant said Friday that intends to get its "Phantom Ray" technology demonstrator up in the air for its first flight in December 2010. The aircraft, intended as a test bed for advanced air systems, would make a total of 10 flights over a six-month stretch to show off its skills in missions ranging from surveillance to attack to autonomous aerial refueling.

Late in 2009, lab testing will begin for the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and ground testing will follow in 2010. In putting the design through its paces, Boeing also aims to demonstrate its skills at rapid prototyping.

Boeing's Phantom Works unit won't be starting from scratch--it will be picking up where the company left off with its work on the Pentagon's Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) program, which ended in 2006. (In this case, "joint" means a collaboration between the Air Force and the Navy--not always a recipe for success--along with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.) This time around, though, Boeing will be funding the project internally.

Source