Boeing says that its Phantom Ray will fly to NASA’s Dryden, CA flight test center as a piggyback passenger on NASA’s Shuttle Carrying 747

Unmanned but not "unmanned"

When Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth accused her husband of being “unmanned in folly,” the word unmanned was meant as an insult. But when Boeing’s Darryl Davis and Chris Chadwick use the word in discussing unmanned systems, it’s definitely a positive thing.

Today, Davis and Chadwick accentuated the positive in their briefing on Boeing’s wide range of unmanned systems. And there are a lot of positives to talk about. The duo, head of Phantom Works and head of Boeing Military Aircraft respectively, reminded their audience that Boeing’s work in the unmanned arena includes “a lot more than unmanned aerial systems” and includes undersea, ground-based and high altitude systems too.

Davis and Chadwick also announced that Boeing contracted with NASA to use the Shuttle Carrying Aircraft -- the specially configured 747 that normally carries the Space Shuttle -- to transport the Phantom Ray from its home in St. Louis to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. The flight to California will occur sometime in the next few months.

This partnership agreement came about because of a Boeing-funded Commercial Space Act Agreement with NASA.

According to Davis, a Boeing engineer suggested using the Shuttle Carrier, because it would be the most cost-effective way to transport the Phantom Ray. The Boeing team had to develop an attachment to allow the Ray to connect to the structure that normally carries the much larger Space Shuttle.

While at NASA Dryden, Phantom Ray will undergo an extensive series of tests that will extend its mission as a test bed for advanced technologies. Those tests are expected to culminate in a first flight late this year.

The Weird Sisters (The Three Witches) in “Macbeth” are famous for saying “double, double, toil and trouble,” as they stirred their potion. At that time, there were no unmanned systems to detect, assess or respond to the trouble they were brewing up.

Today, however, Boeing’s range of unmanned vehicles is on the job, whether trouble is found in a warzone, an undersea environmental disaster or a raging wildfire. And the Phantom Ray testing at NASA Dryden will ensure that responders will have the very best technologies at their disposal when they arrive on site.

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