Boeing Phantom Ray

Phantom Ray
The Phantom Ray during its unveiling in St. Louis, Missouri, in May 2010.
Role	Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle
Manufacturer	Boeing Integrated Defense Systems
First flight	April 27, 2011
Status	Under development
Number built	1
Developed from	Boeing X-45C

The Boeing Phantom Ray is an American demonstration stealth unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) being developed by Boeing using company funds. The autonomous Phantom Ray is a flying wing around the size of a conventional fighter jet, and first flew in April 2011. It will conduct a program of test flights involving surveillance, ground attack and autonomous aerial refueling missions. The developers say it can carry 4,500 pounds (2,040 kg) of payload.

The Phantom Ray project, called "Project Reblue" internally at Boeing, was first conceived in mid-2007, and started in earnest in June 2008. The project was secret within the company, except for a small number of executives and engineers, until May 2009.

Developed by the Boeing Phantom Works, the Phantom Ray is based on the X-45C prototype aircraft, which Boeing originally developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the US Air Force, and the US Navy Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program in 2002. The Phantom Ray was not aimed at any particular military program or competition, although Boeing may use the design as an entry for the Navy's Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program.

The Phantom Ray was unveiled on May 10, 2010, in St. Louis, Missouri. In November 2010, low-speed taxi tests were carried out in St. Louis. The demonstrator aircraft is to perform ten test flights over six months, supporting missions such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defenses; seek-and-destroy;electronic attack; hunter/killer; and autonomous aerial refueling. Boeing anticipates that the Phantom Ray will be the first of a series of new prototype aircraft.

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