Boeing’s Phantom Works unit has unveiled its Phantom Ray unmanned advanced technology demonstrator which could take on a range of high risk combat operations in future years.
The privately financed aircraft has been developed from the X-45C program which the Phantom Works had developed for DARPA’s Joint-Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) project, and was built by Boeing at St Louis.
“Phantom Ray offers a host of options for our customers as a testbed for advanced technologies, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defences; electronic attack and autonomous aerial refueling – the possibilities are nearly endless,” said Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.
The aircraft, which measures 15.42m long and has a wing span of 10.9m, is scheduled to make its first taxi tests during the northern summer, ahead of a planned first flight in December.
