Monday, May 10, 2010

Boeing Phantom Ray Demonstrator Unveiled at St. Louis Plant

(Boeing Photo)

Boeing unveiled the fighter-sized Phantom Ray unmanned airborne system, a test bed for advanced technologies today at its St. Louis, MO assembly plant. Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works, said that Phantom Ray is on schedule to begin taxi tests this summer and fly in December, about two years after this project began.

Phantom Ray is designed to support potential missions that may include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defenses; electronic attack; strike; and autonomous aerial refueling. It evolved from the X-45C program, is one of several programs in the Phantom Works division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. Phantom Works uses rapid prototyping initiatives to design, develop and build advanced aircraft and then demonstrate their capabilities.

Key Phantom Ray suppliers include General Electric-Aviation (propulsion and power distribution), Honeywell (brake system), Woodward-HRT (flight control actuation system), Crane Hydro-Aire (brake controls) and Heroux-Devtek (landing gear).

For a feature story on today’s Phantom Ray ceremony in St. Louis, visit http://bit.ly/99AvLS.

(Boeing news release, 11:30 AM ET, May 10, 2010)

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