Boeing's Phantom Works, which started life in secrecy as part of fighter builder McDonnell Douglas, has begun to get involved in advanced development work for Boeing's commercial airliner group.
The Phantom Works is now a "virtual" operation, headquartered in St Louis, but with outposts at all of Boeing's major plants, general manager George Meullner said at a briefing here at the show.
Already working on reusable spaceplanes in Southern California, missile defence systems in Seattle, advanced rotorcraft in Mesa, Arizona, and unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAV) in St Louis, the Phantom Works is now working inside Boeing's Commercial Airplane group on advanced airliner technology.
Winning
The Phantom Works has had a spate of successes, winning contracts to build a series of technology demonstrators, including NASA's X-37 Future-X reusable spaceplane.
This will be released from the Space Shuttle in 2001 and will operate in orbit, re-enter the atmosphere and return to a runway landing - all autonomously.
Also in 2001, Boeing plans to fly the Canard Rotor/Wing, an aircraft that will take off and land like a helicopter but will stop its rotor in flight and fly like a fixed-wing aircraft.
The same year, the Phantom Works will begin flying two UCAV demonstrators to test the practicality of using armed, but unpiloted aircraft to suppress enemy air defences.
Other projects the organisation is working on include the Blended Wing-Body large-capacity, long-range transport aircraft and the Super Frog, a tailless, tilt-wing tactical transport capable of ultra-short take-offs and landings.
Source: Flight Daily News
