Phantom Ray Drone Completes First Flight
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By Tracy Staedter
May 04, 2011 -- On April 27, Boeing's unmanned drone, the Phantom Ray, successfully completed its first flight. It completed a serious of high-speed test flights above NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
The Phantom Ray flew to 7,500 feet and reached a speed of 178 knots. The aircraft was built to perform missions that may include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defenses; electronic attack; strike; and autonomous air refueling.
The Phantom Ray is part of Boeing's efforts to design, develop and build advanced aircraft using rapid prototyping. This technique allows three-dimensional parts to be designed on a computer and then printed using a 3D printer. By using rapid prototyping manufacturing techniques, Boeing hopes to use few tools and people to go from an idea to thing in a significantly shorter time frame.
"With Boeing's rapid prototyping, what used to take years, now takes months and what used to months, now takes weeks," Boeing media representative Chris Haddox told Discovery News.
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