bobdina
08-01-2010, 11:33 PM
UAV could spend up to 10 days over its target
A little more insight to a post Perocity put up last week
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Aug 1, 2010 11:22:25 EDT
The newest model unmanned aerial vehicle made by Boeing Co. has a wingspan as long as a C-130, can carry both intelligence sensors and weapons, and is powered by a hydrogen engine that keeps it flying for up to 10 days.
The propeller-driven Phantom Eye is headed to the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for ground tests in September before a test flight in early 2011, said Drew Mallow, the Boeing official overseeing development of the aircraft. The aircraft should be ready to fly by 2013.
Like the Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk, Phantom Eye can collect intelligence from 65,000 feet, but its loiter time over a target could be four to 10 times longer. It is slower, though, and will hold a smaller payload.
Despite what its name suggests, Phantom Eye is not a stealthy aircraft.
“I think you’d like [the] benefit if you could, but with a propeller-driven plane, it’s tough to make it a stealthy vehicle,” Mallow said.
Phantom Eye’s first model will fly 96 hours without landing. Another model should be out the following year, 2014, capable of flying 240 hours. Each aircraft will have the same engine.
The four-day variant has a wingspan of 150 feet and carries a 450-pound payload; the 10-day variant will have a wingspan of 250 feet, and carry a 1,000-payload.
Because of its long flying time, Phantom Eye would not have to be forward deployed to conduct combat missions in Iraq or Afghanistan, said Drew Mallow, the Boeing official overseeing development of the aircraft.
“The really nice thing about that vehicle is that you can pretty much run operations within the continental U.S.,” Mallow said. “You wouldn’t need many bases for this vehicle and have global reach so you could do [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and other operations from a single base.”
Boeing worked with Ford Motor Co. to design the 2.3-liter, four-cylinder engines that will run the two nacelles under each wing. Boeing took the engine that Ford designed for its Fusion sedan and adapted it to fly at high altitudes. Top cruising speed: 150 knots.
Boeing chose hydrogen because it is three times as efficient as standard aviation fuel. While hydrogen fuel is still being developed, Mallow said his team expects it to be ready to power the Phantom Eye.
“You need a larger fuselage to carry the hydrogen, but it’s less dense and more efficient,” he said.
Airmen will fly Phantom Eye from a ground control station using a computer mouse. The pilots, though, will not always be in the ground control station.
“For an aircraft like this, it’s important that it not require a pilot to always be in the ground station,” he said. “For those really long flights, it will often fly on its own.”
The Air Force declined to comment on whether it will add Phantom Eye to its fleet. Such speculation would be inappropriate so early in the acquisitions process, according to Maj. Richard Johnson, a spokesman.
Phantom Eye will face a growing field of long endurance unmanned aircraft the Air Force and other services are considering. Aeroenvironment’s Global Observer also flies at high altitudes and can stay aloft up to seven days. High-altitude airships, which can stay in the air for months at a time, are also making fans out of military leaders and defense experts such as Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution.
“Long-endurance UAVs are a crucial next step in both unmanned systems and aviation itself because it opens up a lot of different functions in areas that range from the obvious ones like surveillance to other things like air-to-air refueling, long-range cargo, more flexible communication network capabilities,” Singer said. Ë
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/08/airforce_phantom_eye_080110/
A little more insight to a post Perocity put up last week
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Aug 1, 2010 11:22:25 EDT
The newest model unmanned aerial vehicle made by Boeing Co. has a wingspan as long as a C-130, can carry both intelligence sensors and weapons, and is powered by a hydrogen engine that keeps it flying for up to 10 days.
The propeller-driven Phantom Eye is headed to the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for ground tests in September before a test flight in early 2011, said Drew Mallow, the Boeing official overseeing development of the aircraft. The aircraft should be ready to fly by 2013.
Like the Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk, Phantom Eye can collect intelligence from 65,000 feet, but its loiter time over a target could be four to 10 times longer. It is slower, though, and will hold a smaller payload.
Despite what its name suggests, Phantom Eye is not a stealthy aircraft.
“I think you’d like [the] benefit if you could, but with a propeller-driven plane, it’s tough to make it a stealthy vehicle,” Mallow said.
Phantom Eye’s first model will fly 96 hours without landing. Another model should be out the following year, 2014, capable of flying 240 hours. Each aircraft will have the same engine.
The four-day variant has a wingspan of 150 feet and carries a 450-pound payload; the 10-day variant will have a wingspan of 250 feet, and carry a 1,000-payload.
Because of its long flying time, Phantom Eye would not have to be forward deployed to conduct combat missions in Iraq or Afghanistan, said Drew Mallow, the Boeing official overseeing development of the aircraft.
“The really nice thing about that vehicle is that you can pretty much run operations within the continental U.S.,” Mallow said. “You wouldn’t need many bases for this vehicle and have global reach so you could do [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and other operations from a single base.”
Boeing worked with Ford Motor Co. to design the 2.3-liter, four-cylinder engines that will run the two nacelles under each wing. Boeing took the engine that Ford designed for its Fusion sedan and adapted it to fly at high altitudes. Top cruising speed: 150 knots.
Boeing chose hydrogen because it is three times as efficient as standard aviation fuel. While hydrogen fuel is still being developed, Mallow said his team expects it to be ready to power the Phantom Eye.
“You need a larger fuselage to carry the hydrogen, but it’s less dense and more efficient,” he said.
Airmen will fly Phantom Eye from a ground control station using a computer mouse. The pilots, though, will not always be in the ground control station.
“For an aircraft like this, it’s important that it not require a pilot to always be in the ground station,” he said. “For those really long flights, it will often fly on its own.”
The Air Force declined to comment on whether it will add Phantom Eye to its fleet. Such speculation would be inappropriate so early in the acquisitions process, according to Maj. Richard Johnson, a spokesman.
Phantom Eye will face a growing field of long endurance unmanned aircraft the Air Force and other services are considering. Aeroenvironment’s Global Observer also flies at high altitudes and can stay aloft up to seven days. High-altitude airships, which can stay in the air for months at a time, are also making fans out of military leaders and defense experts such as Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution.
“Long-endurance UAVs are a crucial next step in both unmanned systems and aviation itself because it opens up a lot of different functions in areas that range from the obvious ones like surveillance to other things like air-to-air refueling, long-range cargo, more flexible communication network capabilities,” Singer said. Ë
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/08/airforce_phantom_eye_080110/