Boeing Bird of Prey

infobox Aircraft
name = Bird of Prey
type = Stealth testbed
manufacturer = Boeing


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designer =
first flight = 1996
introduced =
retired = 1999
produced =
number built = 1
status = Experimental
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The Bird of Prey was a black project aircraft, intended to demonstrate stealth technology, developed by McDonnell DouglasFact|date=December 2007. Funded by the company at a price of $67 million, it was a very cost-effective program (compared to many other programs of similar scale), developing technology and materials which would later be used on Boeing's X-45 UCAV. As an internal project, this aircraft was not given an X-plane designation.

There are no public plans to make this a production aircraft. It is characterized as a technology demonstrator.

Development

Development of the Bird of Prey began in 1992 by McDonnell Douglas's Phantom Works division for special projects. The aircraft's name is a reference to the Klingon Bird of Prey warship from the "Star Trek" television series. [USAF Museum literature] Phantom Works later became part of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems after the Boeing–McDonnell Douglas merger in 1997.

The first flight was in 1996, and 39 more were performed through the program's conclusion in 1999Fact|date=December 2007. The Bird of Prey is rumored to have been used to test active camouflage, which would involve coatings or panels capable of changing color or luminosityFact|date=December 2007.

While these are "un-confirmable" press rumors, the Bird of Prey was otherwise key in the development of a new kind of low-visibility camouflage. Areas that are usually lit most brightly (such as the horizontal flat surfaces over the wings and the top of the fuselage) were painted more darkly, and areas that are usually not quite as bright (such as the sides of the fuselage and other more vertical surfaces) were painted a lighter shade of grayFact|date=December 2007. This reduced the overall contrast of the aircraft, making the whole shape appear to be one relatively even shade of gray. This made the Bird of Prey's features difficult to discern, and made it harder to see against the sky. These low-visibility ideas are currently in use in the F-22 Raptor.

The aircraft was made public on 2002 October 18th, and was put on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio on 2003 July 16th.

Design

Because it was a demonstration aircraft, the Bird of Prey used a commercial off-the-shelf turbofan engine and manual hydraulic controls rather than fly-by-wire. This shortened the development time and reduced the cost significantly (a production aircraft would have computerized controls).

The shape is aerodynamically stable enough to be flown without computer correction, a characteristic not found in other modern fighters or stealth planes, such as the F-16 or the F-117. Its aerodynamic stability is due to the same mechanisms found in canard aircraft such as the VariEze, the lift normally generated by the canards being provided by the chines (which therefore keeps the nose from sinking). This configuration, which can be stable without a horizontal tailplane and a conventional vertical rudder, is now a standard in modern stealth UAVs such as the X-45 and X-47, tailless aircraft which use drag rudders (asymmetrically-used wingtip airbrakes) for rudder control.

pecifications

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=jet

crew=1
capacity=
length main=approximately 47 ft 0 in
length alt=14.30 m
span main=approximately 23 ft 0 in
span alt=7.00 m
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area main=
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max takeoff weight main= 7,380 lb
max takeoff weight alt= 3,350 kg
more general=

engine (jet)=Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5C
type of jet=
number of jets=1
thrust main= 2,900 lbf
thrust alt= 12.9 kN
thrust original=
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max speed main= 260 knots
max speed alt= 482 km/h
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range main=
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ceiling main= 20,000 ft
ceiling alt= 6,100 m
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References

External links

* " [http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2002/q4/nr_021018m.html Boeing Unveils Bird of Prey Stealth Technology Demonstrator] ," Boeing press release.
* [http://www.janes.com/aerospace/military/news/idr/idr021127_1_n.shtml "Now you see it, now you won't: Boeing lifts the veil on stealthy Bird of Prey"] , "Jane's International Defence Review" article mentioning Bird of Prey's daylight stealth capability
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/bop.htm GlobalSecurity.org]

ee also

aircontent
related=
*Boeing X-45

similar aircraft=
* HAVE BLUE
* F-117 Nighthawk

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