Two Boeing X-45A Unmanned Jets Continue Coordinated Flights

Posted on: Dec. 12th, 2004 || Source: boeing.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

Two Boeing X-45A Unmanned Jets Continue Coordinated Flights

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 10, 2004 – Two military jets flying together may seem routine, but when they are pilotless, tail-less aircraft, routine goes out the window and science fiction springs to mind. Boeing [NYSE: BA] continued to turn science fiction into reality when two X-45A technology demonstrator aircraft made their second and third coordinated flights at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

Controlled by a single pilot-operator, the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems' (J-UCAS) X-45As, complete with Boeing's latest software build known as Block 3 software, departed in succession and entered coordinated flight over the test range. Known by the call signs "Stingray 01 and 02," the revolutionary aircraft operated together in coordinated flight for more than one hour. During the Dec. 3 mission, the 27-foot-long air vehicles flew successfully in several different formations, demonstrating the ability to autonomously enter and exit coordinated flight based on pre-identified points and showing the ability to dynamically alter the formation in all three axes simultaneously.

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