Boeing's Phantom Ray UAV Debuts

Riding on the back of a 747 is at best a modest start for a new UAV that Boeing hopes will eventually replace manned aircraft in a variety of combat missions.

Boeing's best hope for growing its share of the burgeoning market for combat drones — capable of stalking and killing enemies without risking U.S. pilots — first took flight on Monday, looking like a giant sting ray strapped to the back of one of the company's signature 747s.

Taking a short trip over the region, the Phantom Ray left Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on top of the plane that NASA normally uses to transport the space shuttle orbiter.

The flight's brevity belied Boeing's grand ambition in developing an unmanned aircraft capable of a wide range of military missions: supporting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppressing enemy air defenses; electronic attack; aerial fueling; even fighting enemy jets. The prototype vehicle was carried aloft at 1:44 p.m. and returned 50 minutes later, to the applause and gloved high-fives of a couple of dozen Boeing and NASA employees on the tarmac.

By: Shelldrake