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Last month, the Boeing-designed X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle surpassed 800 days in space, eclipsing its previous endurance record. This feat was marked by the U.S. Space Force’s Space Delta 9, which operates the 3rd Space Experimentation Squadron’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. Designed as part of a pilot test program aimed at showcasing technologies for reusable unmanned space tests, the X-37B remains one of the most unique aircrafts in the U.S. arsenal. The U.S. Air Force has previously flown five X-37B missions, OTV-1 through OTV-5. The platform most recently launched to Earth orbit in May 2020 on its sixth mission for...

"The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) and the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (AFRCO) are investigating an experimental propulsion system on the X-37B on Mission 4," Capt. Chris Hoyler, an Air Force spokesman, told Space.com via email. "AFRCO will also host a number of advance materials onboard the X-37B for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to study the durability of various materials in the space environment," Hoyler added ... The Air Force owns two X-37B space planes, both of which were built by Boeing's Phantom Works division. The solar-powered spacecraft are about...

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Navy have successfully completed a flight test of the prototype Distributed Targeting System-Networked (DTS-N) on a Super Hornet. The system is designed to enhance the F/A-18E/F fighter jet’s targeting capabilities. The test took place in late 2011 at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Advanced Weapons Lab in China Lake, Calif., and was conducted by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron VX-31. DTS-N is based on the Boeing Adaptive Architecture developed by the company’s Phantom Works division. It expands the capabilities of the soon-to-be-operational F/A-18E/F Distributed Targeting System by providing a dramatic...

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...

Boeing Monday unveiled its fighter-sized Phantom Ray unmanned aircraft, which is scheduled to fly in December. "We are on a fast track, and first flight is in sight," Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works, said in a news release, noting that the program just started two years ago. Phantom Ray, which evolved from the X-45C program, is designed to be a test bed for advanced technologies and support such missions as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, suppression of enemy air defenses, electronic attack, strike and autonomous aerial refueling, Boeing said. The Phantom Ray is 36-feet long, with a 50-foot wingspan,...

Can an unmanned aerial vehicle be made smart enough to autonomously rendezvous with a tanker aircraft and refuel? Based on recently concluded flight tests by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and Phantom Works, it can. "By adding an automated aerial refueling capability to UAVs, we can significantly increase their combat radius and mission times while reducing their forward staging needs and response times," said David Riley, Phantom Works program manager for the Automated Aerial Refueling program. The goal of the government–industry AAR program is to develop and demonstrate systems that will enable UAVs to safely approach and maneuver around...

ST. LOUIS, July 6, 2005 – ScanEagle, a long-endurance fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Boeing [NYSE:BA] and The Insitu Group, successfully completed sea trials aboard the USS Cleveland as part of the U.S. Navy-sponsored 2005 Joint Task Force Exercise The two week exercise off the San Diego coast tested and evaluated the battle group’s reaction to multiple wartime scenarios, and is the final certification prior to deploying. The trials verified ScanEagle’s shipboard launch and recovery capabilities as the UAV completed four launches and captures, as well at 68 approaches, aboard the Cleveland. ScanEagle also provided real-time video...

CHICAGO, June 21, 2005 – Boeing and a team of flight control scientists from academia have demonstrated leading-edge flight control technologies that potentially could dramatically improve the mission effectiveness of advanced unmanned aerial vehicles. The effort is part of the Software Enabled Control program (SEC) sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), with technical direction from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The demonstration flight, on May 26 at Victorville, Calif., involved the DARPA Renegade rotorcraft UAV, modified to include SEC hardware and software. During the flight, the SEC software assumed control of the Renegade to execute autonomous...

ST. LOUIS, May 26, 2005 – ScanEagle, a long-endurance fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Boeing [NYSE:BA] and The Insitu Group, has surpassed 3,000 combat flight hours during operations in Iraq in just ten months. The low-cost UAV has proven to be one of the military's most effective tools for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war on terrorism. Since being deployed by the First Marine Expeditionary Force in August 2004, ScanEagle has accumulated flight hours at an increasingly high rate due to the need for its unmatched capabilities. "The Marines...

DAYTON, Ohio - Two Boeing technology demonstrator aircraft on Wednesday became part of the world's oldest and largest military aviation museum, the United States Air Force Museum. The Bird of Prey technology demonstrator and the X-36 flight demonstrator were welcomed into the museum's collection in a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon. Designed, produced and demonstrated by Boeing Phantom Works, the company's advanced research and development unit that serves as a catalyst of innovation for the enterprise, the aircraft will now be on permanent display at the museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The Boeing-funded Bird of Prey, which had flown for...