Posted on 06/24/2010 3:58:26 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Boeing has revealed more details about the timeline, plans and capabilities of the high-altitude long endurance Phantom Eye unmanned aircraft system.
Phantom Works President Darryl Davis says the hydrogen-powered, subscale demonstrator is on track to fly in January 2011.
Schedules posted inside the Phantom Eye production hangar during a press tour on 24 June narrowed the date to around 20 January.
Final assembly of the Phantom Eye fuselage is within weeks of completion. One of two 2.4m (8ft-)diameter fuel tanks has already been installed inside the exposed frames of the centre fuselage.
The tail of the Phantom Eye was scheduled to be delivered several hours after the press tour completed on the morning of 24 June, Davis says.
Perhaps only 40 parts remain to be delivered to complete final assembly, says Andrew Mallow, Phantom Works director of advanced operations and prototype programmes.
The aircraft is currently due to be shipped by truck to NASA’s Dryden research facility in California on 8 August, according to internal schedules.
But the overall schedule could change dramatically depending on the outcome of ongoing contract negotiations with Boeing’s machinists union in St. Louis.
Boeing has designed the Phantom Eye to beat the long-endurance record posted by the company’s Condor aircraft in 1989. The unmanned Condor flew for 56h. Phantom Eye should achieve a 96h endurance on its third test flight. First flight for Phantom Eye could extend between 4h to 8h.
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
Ping
Is there a proposed or an actual picture of this anywhere that can be linked?
Man, that looks very, very familiar.....:)
Thats it
What’s most interesting is the liquid hydrogen fueled turbine. Chosen no doubt to reduce take off weight. But the trick, I would think, is to manage the cryogenic liquid for days without venting it away. Unless they have some kind of on board refrigeration system.
Yea, it’s called High Altitude.....it gets real cold up there.....
Are you sure? The article says prototype (60% scale) has 150 foot wingspan. That photo doesn't look near that big.
Boeing also lists the powerplant as a "modified Ford compact truck engine (2.3 liter)". So does the engine drive a ducted fan?
Regards,
GtG
That is the photo Google displayed.
I agree with you
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