Bird Of Prey??, page 1
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reply posted on 20-3-2004 @ 10:09 PM by kinglizard
This is the project patch.



I posted this photo so everyone knows what aircraft we are talking about.



[Edited on 20-3-2004 by kinglizard]


reply posted on 21-3-2004 @ 12:32 AM by intelgurl
Boeing Bird of Prey: A few details...

Powered by a single engine from a Citation business jet,(the 14.2kN Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5 engine), the Bird of Prey had a maximum speed of 300 mph and a maximum altitude of 20,000 feet.

The primary objective in Boeing building the BoP was threefold:

1. To demonstrate Boeing's ability to build stealth technology, with a renewed focus on obtaining a very low radar cross-section (RCS) as well as visual and even acoustic signatures. In fact it's been confirmed by DARPA officials that it was their desire that the BoP could achieve daylight stealth and they were not disapointed. Whether this "bird" had active optical stealth is anybody's guess however.

2. To show the USAF Boeing's Phantom Works could build prototype airplanes quickly and cheaply, (the BoP was made almost exclusively from carbon fiber composite parts)

3. Unlike any other manufacturer of bizarre shaped (note it is tailess) aircraft before it, Boeing demo'd the BoP with an all-manual flight control system without a computer in sight, and yet it maintained stable flight.

The Bird of Prey made a total of 38 flights and the first one was in 1996, also according to an industry exec I spoke to about a year ago, the BoP test flights occured at a "remote location on the Nellis AFB range".

So what did this $67 million demonstration flyer net Boeing?
According to industry insiders, the X-45 UCAV deal...
Nearly all the technologies demonstrated in the Bird of Prey have been utilized in Boeings new X-45 UCAV light SEAD/strike aircraft...



Sources:
Private conversations with an industry exec
Janes Defense Weekly: "Now you see it, now you won't", 27 November 2002
Popular Science: "Boeing unveils stealth 'Bird of Prey'", Bill Sweetman, October 18, 2002

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