Boeing’s Phantom Ray uninhabited aircraft test bed last month successfully completed low-speed taxi tests in St. Louis, according to company officials. They are now preparing to ferry the aircraft to Edwards AFB, Calif., for more taxi tests before entering a six-month flight-test program. “Phantom Ray did exactly what it was supposed to do,” said Craig Brown, Boeing’s Phantom Ray program manager, of the low-speed taxi tests, in the company’s release. These tests were the first for the Phantom Ray following its rollout in May. Phantom Ray is Boeing’s name for the completed X-45C prototype that the company developed under Defense Department sponsorship during the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System program. It will travel to Edwards on top of one of NASA’s modified Boeing 747s that ferry space shuttles. At Edwards, Phantom Ray will undergo high-speed taxi tests before making its first flight.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.