Boeing Phantom Ray

The Boeing Phantom Ray is an American demonstration stealth unmanned 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.^[2][3] The developers say it can carry 4,500 pounds (2,040 kg) of payload.^[4]

Phantom Ray
The Phantom Ray at Dryden Flight Research Center in April 2011
Role	Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle
Manufacturer	Boeing Integrated Defense Systems
First flight	April 27, 2011[1]
Status	Under development
Number built	1
Developed from	Boeing X-45C

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.^[5]

Developed by the Boeing Phantom Works, the Phantom Ray is based on the X-45C prototype aircraft,^[6] which Boeing originally developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the US Air Force, and the US Navy Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program in 2002. The Phantom Ray was not aimed at any particular military program or competition,^[7] although Boeing considered using the design as an entry for the Navy's Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program.^[8]

The Phantom Ray was unveiled on May 10, 2010, in St. Louis, Missouri.^[3][9] In November 2010, low-speed taxi tests were carried out in St. Louis.^[10][11] 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;^[12] electronic attack; hunter/killer; and autonomous aerial refueling.^[2] Boeing anticipated that the Phantom Ray would be the first of a series of new prototype aircraft.^[3]

The Phantom Ray was scheduled to make its maiden flight in December 2010 from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center,^[3][10] but this was later rescheduled, and the aircraft first flew on April 27, 2011, from Edwards AFB,^[13][14][15] having been carried there by the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.^{[13][15][16][17]} The Phantom Ray flew to 7,500 feet and reached a speed of 178 knots,^[18] flying for a total of 17 minutes.^[19][20]

Specifications

The Phantom Ray being carried on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in Missouri in December 2010.

Values for the X-45 are marked with an asterisk (*).

Data from Debut,^[3] Boeing backgrounder,^[21] Boeing X-45 page^[22]

General characteristics

• Crew: None (UCAV)
• Length: 36 ft (11 m)
• Wingspan: 50 ft (15 m)
• Max takeoff weight: 36,500 lb (16,556 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × General Electric F404-GE-102D

Performance

• Cruise speed: 614 mph (988 km/h, 534 kn) mach 0.93
• Range: 1,500 mi (2,400 km, 1,300 nmi) *
• Service ceiling: 40,000 ft (12,000 m) *

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• BAE Taranis
• Dassault nEUROn
• DRDO AURA
• EADS Barracuda
• Northrop Grumman X-47B
• Mikoyan Skat
• Sukhoi Okhotnik

Related lists

• List of unmanned aerial vehicles