Yesterday, the U.S. military in conjunction with several private companies including Boeing’s Phantom Works, successfully launched and flew the X-51A “WaveRider” unmanned test aircraft. Powered by a Scramjet engine, the aircraft flew at speeds up to Mach 5, although this was below the intended hypersonic goal of Mach 6. But the X-51A, having flown for [...]
Posted in Military, Technology 
Tags: airplane, Boeing, Phantom Works, scramjet, X-51A WaveRider 
1 Comment »If there’s one thing for which the U.S. government should have a “blank check”, it’s defense spending. Not necessarily for complicated, politicized international wars or covert nation building operations, but for weapons development programs so futuristic and secretive that we the citizens, along with potential enemies, can barely imagine the kinds of firepower the Pentagon or DARPA [...]
Posted in Military, Technology Tags: airplane, F-35 Lightning II, fighter jet, Military 3 Comments »The folks at Boeing have been busy lately. Besides testing prototypes of the 787 Dreamliner, the company today unveiled an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) called the Phantom Ray. The stealthy aircraft, financed and built by entirely by Boeing using knowledge gained from the X-45 program, will initially serve as a test bed for existing [...]
Posted in Military, Technology Tags: airplane, Boeing, Boeing 787, Phantom Ray, Phantom Works, stealth 3 Comments »No modern military can succeed without the ability to wage war at night. Up until about 40 years ago, the cover of darkness often provided the best form of stealth by which opposing forces could hide. Then, the era of modern electronics saw the development of several types of night vision technology to augment the [...]