Boeing makes once-secret, subsonic 'Bird of Prey' public
Published 10:00 pm, Friday, October 18, 2002
"Beam me up, Scotty!
Named after a Klingon spacecraft in "Star Trek," The Boeing Co. yesterday took the wraps off what was once one of its most classified "black" military airplane projects known as the "Bird of Prey."
The plane, which looks like something that should be flying -- and probably once did -- at the super-secret Area 51 Nevada test range, helped Boeing pioneer stealth technology and new and more-affordable ways to design and build airplanes.
The classified project ran from 1992 through 1999, and Boeing said it decided to make the aircraft public because the technologies that were demonstrated have become industry standards.
"With this aircraft we changed the rules on how to design and build an aircraft, and what we've learned is enabling us to provide our customers with affordable, high-performing products," said Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems.
The Bird of Prey was unveiled at a ceremony in St. Louis, home of Boeing's fighter jet programs. Among those attending were Air Force Secretary James Roche and Air Force Chief of Staff John Jumper. A Boeing spokesman said the craft will now go "back under wraps," although Boeing is exploring other "opportunities" of how it might be displayed.
"There are restrictions on what we can say," the spokesman said.
The single-seat, subsonic jet made 38 test flights as part of its flight demonstration program, Boeing said.
Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas in 1997, a year after the Bird of Prey made its first flight in the fall of 1996. Even though Boeing Phantom Works still has black programs that the company can't talk about or even reveal, the organization has become a powerful technology research and development arm for the entire company, including commercial airplanes.
The $67 million cost of the Bird of Prey project was paid by McDonnell Douglas and Boeing.
The program was among the first in the industry to initiate the use of large, single-piece composite structures, low-cost disposable tooling and 3-D virtual reality design and assembly processes, Boeing said.
This technology was used by Boeing when it developed its Joint Strike Fighter demonstration jets. The hallmark of that program was affordability -- developing new design and production methods that would greatly reduce the cost of manned fighters.
Boeing has taken that a step further with the X-45 Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle that it is developing with the Air Force. The X-45, which recently made its maiden flight, drew heavily on technology demonstrated by the Bird of Prey, Boeing said.
The Bird of Prey is 47 feet long with a 23-foot wing at the rear that is shaped like a "W." Powered by the same Pratt & Whitney engine used on the Citation business jet, the Bird of Prey has a maximum speed of about 300 mph and a maximum altitude of about 20,000 feet.
The cockpit is located just in front of the jet engine air intake on top of the plane.