Boeing Unveils Bird of Prey Stealth Technology Demonstrator

www.boeing.com...


ST. LOUIS, October 18, 2002 � Boeing [NYSE: BA] today unveiled the "Bird of Prey," a technology demonstrator that pioneered breakthrough low-observable technologies and revolutionized aircraft design, development and production. The once highly classified project ran from 1992 through 1999, and was revealed because the technologies and capabilities developed have become industry standards, and it is no longer necessary to conceal the aircraft's existence.

In addition to proving many new stealth concepts, the Bird of Prey program demonstrated innovative rapid prototyping techniques. Developed by the Boeing Phantom Works advanced research-and-development organization, the Bird of Prey was among the first to initiate the use of large, single-piece composite structures; low-cost, disposable tooling; and 3-D virtual reality design and assembly processes to ensure the aircraft was affordable to build as well as high-performing.

Fully funded by Boeing, the Bird of Prey project costs $67 million. A subsonic, single-seat technology demonstrator, the aircraft completed 38 test flights as part of its flight-demonstration program. Its first flight took place in fall 1996. Bird of Prey has a wingspan of approximately 23 feet and a length of 47 feet, and weighs nearly 7,400 pounds. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5C turbofan engine, the Bird of Prey has an operational speed of 260 knots and a maximum operating altitude of 20,000 feet.

"Early investments in technology demonstration projects such as Bird of Prey have positioned Boeing to help shape our industry's transformation," said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. "With this aircraft, we changed the rules on how to design and build an aircraft, and what we've learned is enabling us to provide our customers with affordable, high-performing products. Projects such as Bird of Prey have provided the catalyst for integrating speed, agility and reduced cost into the processes we employ to introduce new commercial and military systems to market."

Boeing's current development of the X-45A Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle, or UCAV, technology demonstrator draws directly on its Bird of Prey experience. Some aspects of the UCAV's innovative radar-evading design, such as its shape and inlet, were developed from this project. Together, Boeing Phantom Works and Boeing Integrated Defense Systems are developing UCAV for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and the U.S. Air Force.

"The success of the Bird of Prey is a testament to the shared commitment of Boeing and the Air Force to pioneering innovative methods to drive down costs and improve performance," said George Muellner, senior vice president of Air Force Systems for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. "This project stressed affordability as much as performance and quality, and is one of many that we are using to define the future of aerospace."

The Boeing Company is the world's largest manufacturer of satellites, commercial jetliners and military aircraft. In terms of sales, Boeing is the largest exporter in the United States. Total company revenues for 2001 were $58 billion. A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $23 billion business. It provides systems solutions to its global military, government and commercial customers. Boeing Phantom Works is the catalyst of innovation within the company. By working with the company's business units, it provides advanced solutions and innovative, breakthrough technologies that reduce cycle time and cost while improving the quality and performance of aerospace products and services.



[Edited on 21-10-2002 by Zion Mainframe]

I dont know if this is the same craft but I just came across this here is the link.


www.newscientist.com...

Falcon

How come we didint see it coming???
Anyway, looks promising.

[Edited on 10/24/2002 by necro99]

Actually we did see it comming...sort off...

I uploaded this page on my website a couple of months ago...

www.air-attack.com...

Although the article is about onother top secret project; The witchblade, the name "Bird Of Pray" is mentionned a couple of times...

just so some of you know. this aircraft won't be put into production. it was just a proof of concept. it has no internal weapons bay. definately won't be able to mount anything on the wings either. the engine is just a common engine you can get on comercial aircraft.

i think it (and may others do too) is that it is related to the x-45. there are some similar design features they share.

I read somewhere that this thing has MAD stealth capabilities (that are highly classified nonetheless). even something to cloak it to the eye (probably not completely, but make it pretty damned hard to see unless you are looking right at it. ).

I think I got that from another article out there somewhere, but dont know for sure

yes...
Fit it an YF-120 Engine and a Scaled down MIRACL laser and start production of it...

I believe it does have the active camouflage or 'cloaking' type technology. Why else would it be named Bird of Prey? That is straight out of Star Trek, and it is named after the ship that can cloak itself to make it practically invisible.

Originally posted by bzap
I believe it does have the active camouflage or 'cloaking' type technology. Why else would it be named Bird of Prey? That is straight out of Star Trek, and it is named after the ship that can cloak itself to make it practically invisible.

No, its the shape of the wings that got it named so. Thats all, no consipiracy theory here guys, just like the B-2 doesnt have antigrav technology.

The B-2 might have electrostatic conditioning of the airflow though, Northrop did research into that years back, its to reduce drag and manipulate transsonic shockwave formation. It's top speed is high subsonic but it is certainly capable of localized supersonic flow on its wing surface, any commercial airliner can do that. Just look out on the wing during cruise and if you're in the right position the sunlight shows it up. If the B-2 has that system has it, its certainly for drag reduction. That's where the whole antigrav rumor came from.

I'm sure we've seen the pic of the B-2 with the vapor cloud on top and bottom, that's a much more visible variant of that.

www.wilk4.com...

Photo taken from another thread

I have the mpeg files of both the flight and the unveiling of the Bird of Prey, Boeing only has a streaming RAM file of the flight vid now, if anyone wants it i could offer to send the files through messenger.

[edit on 28-7-2004 by MPJay]

The thing is that photo with the vapour cloud proves nothing. I've seen many photo's of aircraft with exactly the same phenomenon, even the Hawker Hunter and EE Lightning, its a natural occurrence that people read too much into, again.

The vapour cloud is indeed a natural phenomenon, my point is the so called anti grav rumor was started by the possibility of that system on the Spirit. That it has the condensation cloud caused by local supersonic flow is just a combination of speed, humidity and a bit of luck.

Back to the topic of Bird of Prey, it wasn't even a fly by wire aircraft, its systems were off the shelf simple hydraulics, its engine is from a small biz jet. It's performance was modest in terms of flight envelope, its stealth capability and in demonstrating large single piece composites and rapid prototyping was its key contribution.

[edit on 28-7-2004 by MPJay]

Right you are, sorry about that. I remember a thread on here a while ago that held up that picture as proof of anti-grav on the B-2. I mean why would it need anti-grav anyway, its all bloody wing!

I remember reading the Air Force Museaum is going to get a static version of the Boeing BoP. Has anyone seen it on display yet?

=-Rich

this has been out for a while, and its just another expensive coldwar esque relic imo

Amazing you would look at it from a negative standpoint, drfunk.
I tend to see it as the future of things to come.





seekerof

Originally posted by rvfried
I remember reading the Air Force Museaum is going to get a static version of the Boeing BoP. Has anyone seen it on display yet?

=-Rich

The BoP demonstrator is mounted in the USAFM, hanging from the ceiling above the TACIT BLUE aircraft. I've got tons of pictures of both (and numerous other exhibits) since I hit the Museum at least once a year for various purposes.

An obvious copy of Klingon technology, I'm not impressed

Originally posted by Trent
An obvious copy of Klingon technology, I'm not impressed

I didn't even make the connection! .. now we know Boeing Engineers enjoy Star Trek

I read in an article that it was released because the technology is now "industry standard"....

it makes you think...