Boeing Phantom Ray UAV rolled out

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Boeing rolls out Phantom Ray ahead of December flight debut

Boeing rolled out a flight-ready Phantom Ray unmanned air system demonstrator on 10 May, but first flight remains scheduled for December.

The flying-wing design is heavily based on the X-45C programme cancelled by the US Air Force in 2006, but the roll-out event in St Louis, Missouri revealed an all-new ground control station.

Boeing plans to complete up to 10 flight tests with the Phantom Ray in 2011, says programme manager Craig Brown. The effort is typical of a new company strategy to develop new platforms ahead of a requirement defined by the US Department of Defense.

But the programme also benefits from nearly a decade of investment on the X-45C by the US Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which envisaged the aircraft penetrating hostile airspace and preying on surface-to-air missile batteries.

The Phantom Ray, with a 16,500kg (36,500lb) gross weight, is not expected to carry sensors or weapons during the flight tests. But the demonstration aims to achieve more by checking out the flying qualities of the 15.2m (50ft)-wingspan UAS, which is powered by a non-afterburning General Electric F404-102D engine.

Boeing's new ground station intends to introduce advanced levels of autonomy. Similar to the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, the Phantom Ray will be piloted on the ground using a mouse and a keyboard.

"It's like sitting at a computer at your desk," Brown says.

Boeing so far has not determined if the aircraft will require a separate sensor operator.

The demonstration next year involves controlling only one flying aircraft, but Boeing hopes the data can be extrapolated for research on concepts for controlling four flying aircraft with a single pilot, Brown says.

"If we take a look at the requirements to be able to safely and repeatedly control one air vehicle with one pilot, then we've got the confidence to move on to the second air vehicle," he says.

Boeing previously offered the X-45C to the US Navy for the unmanned combat air systems-demonstrator programme, but lost to Northrop's X-47B.

Boeing does not expect the Phantom Ray to compete for a new USN requirement called the unmanned carrier launched airborne surveillance and strike system, Brown says.

"For the resources it would take to navalise Phantom Ray," he says, Boeing will probably decide to "spend them somewhere else".

 

[scottb50]

I would extend the wings and get the sensors to a much higher altitude. Bombs are guided anyway so who cares how high they are dropped from. I would wonder about hand flying more then one, especially if they have different problems.

I would think they would be on autopilot pretty much all the time. Descend for fuel or maintenance using docking to refueler. Other wise orbiting at a ridiculous altitude and lobbing pinpoint bombs would be worth the cost. Days or weeks on station. refueled and sent back up.

 

[Astro_Robert]

This vehicle is meant primarily as a deomstrator, as can be noted from the modest test flight plan (10 flights). The purpose is to give Boeing Phantom Works experience and credibility in this area so that they can complete for future contracts to build stealthy UAVs.

Full size UAVs usually either fly high to carry sensors (Global Hawk), or low to medium altitude to drop bombs (Reaper). There are some small UAVs that carry sensors and fly low. You could drop bombs from higher, but your targetting may suffer. Furthermore, the drive for weapons is towards faster delivery so speed is usually more usefull in that regards as loitering endurance is limited.

As far as endurance, Jet engines are nice if the aircraft is to be stealthy, but it does limit endurance: Global Hawk's total endurance is on the order of ~48 hours, and that is best in class right now (although its payload is still wanting after 10 years and untold $Billions). Nothing powered by a jet engine and dependent upon aerodynamic lift is going to have an endurance measured in weeks. Blimps (airships) depend upon bouyancy for most/all of their lift and can have such long endurance, but jet engines are just not efficient enough, they are high performance gass guzzlers.

A stealthy asset such as this would be beneficial for penetrating sensitive airspace, something that non-stealthy platforms (either Global Hawk or Reaper) cannot accomplish. Think of it as a mini-B2, with a payload that could become sensors instead of bombs.

I think the idea of having one operator handle more than one vehicle is not that far-fetched as most of the time remote-piloting probably depends heavily on computer control and 'pilot' assigned waypoints with infrequent periods of attention.

 

[PistolPete037]

Full size UAVs usually either fly high to carry sensors (Global Hawk), or low to medium altitude to drop bombs (Reaper).

I can see how you could come to this conclusion, but in practice it is often quite the opposite. In a conventional force-on-force war your analogy is correct. However, in a low scale counterinsurgency, accuracy is essential. You'd be surprised how hard it is to identify from 20,000 ft AGL whether a man has an RPG or a pitchfork. Global Hawk doesn't produce real-time full-motion-video, and there is a lot of atmosphere between a high flying Reaper and its target to distort the image. Most UAVs have to get closer to there target (within about 5,000 to 10,000 ft AGL) to positively identify them. They either fire on the targets themselves, or if they lack weapons, they call in fast movers flying at fl250. This basic tactic of the low flying forward observer and the high flying bomb truck hasn't changed since CAS was perfected in Vietnam.

I think the idea of having one operator handle more than one vehicle is not that far-fetched as most of the time remote-piloting probably depends heavily on computer control and 'pilot' assigned waypoints with infrequent periods of attention.

You are absolutely correct. The Predator and Hunter UAVs were the last that were designed to allow the pilots full control of the flight surfaces. Every one since then has been completely automated from initial power up to shut down. The only reason that full pilot control is needed for those two aircraft is that they have no means of performing an automatic takeoff or landing. The Global Hawk can takeoff and land without manual control but requires a complete 3D GPS map of the airfield to do this. Hence, it usually only flies out of a few CONUS airfields. The Army's Shadow and Sky Warrior UAVs (the Sky Warrior is a modified version of the Predator) use Sierra Nevada Corporation's Tactical Automatic Landing System for landing (the Sky Warrior can also use it for takeoffs).