Gizmodo: phantom works

Next Generation Stealth Bombers Jump Out of Hyperspace

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:00:00 EDT

The next-generation stealth bomber from Boeing/Lockheed Martin is out. Developed by Phantom Works, the large diamond-shaped body, with long wings and razor-sharp nose, resembles a long-range B-2 Spirit bomber that has been retrofitted at Darth Vader's garage: from the front, it looks kind of evil and menacing. Unlike Northrop Grumman's proposal, which is like the stealth bomber that eats too many Snickers.

Boeing Advanced Systems says that this is not a "cartoon", but a real prototype "representative of what we're doing". The new bomber won't require the development of new technologies, as they are gunning for lower costs by integrating existing ones.

The Northrop Grumman proposal for the NGP may seem chunkier and not so elegant, but apparently it has been designed to make room for a large weapon bay. As if throwing one nuclear bomb wasn't enough. [Ares via Defense Tech]

ScanEagle Sniffs Biological Threats, Tells When You Have to Start Running

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:20:33 EDT

Boeing Phantom Works, the guys who get to do all the awesome planes and play with the alien ships at Area 51, have modified and successfully tested ScanEagle unmanned air vehicles to "intercept, detect and fly through simulated biological plumes or clouds to collect airborne agents." This means that the aircraft above will allow troops to locate biological threats faster, all without having to use trebuchets to launch goats into danger areas to test, which is the way they probably did it before (may not be as effective, but it could be a lot funnier. Fetchez la vache!) Full details after the jump.

ST. LOUIS, March 10, 2008 — The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Boeing [NYSE: BA] have demonstrated successfully that ScanEagle unmanned air vehicles modified to look for biological warfare agents can effectively intercept, detect and fly through simulated biological plumes or clouds to collect airborne agents.
Tests also show that the UAVs can successfully collect airborne material and data from a target site that can help U.S. forces combat the threat from biological agents and minimize the danger to friendly forces and civilians.

During the developmental tests at Fort Leonard Wood and the operational tests in the Gulf of Mexico, two BCAS ScanEagle UAVs, one equipped with a biological collection system and the other equipped with sensors to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), flew tandem beyond-line-of-sight missions into and out of simulated counterforce strike target locations. They were to collect air samples within simulated biological plumes, which represented the collateral effects of counterforce strikes on weapons-of-mass-destruction research and production facilities, and bring back the samples for further analysis.

In the final operational demonstration tests in late January, the two BCAS ScanEagles were launched at sea from the NAVAIR 38 ship, successfully intercepted seven of eight simulated biological plumes, then were successfully recovered aboard the ship and decontaminated.

The biological collection ScanEagle is equipped with bio-collection and plume tracking systems that are integrated into a unique customer payload that is designed specifically for the BCAS. The ISR ScanEagle incorporates significant data storage upgrades over the stock ScanEagle, along with unique beyond-line-of-sight picture snapshot technologies specifically designed for the BCAS mission.

F-15 Eagle Literally Breaking Apart

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:30:31 EST

As part of the ongoing investigation on the accident that has nearly one third of the US F-15 Eagle fleet grounded, Boeing Phantom Works has released this simulation reconstructing the "structural failure of a US Air National Guard F-15C, caused by fatigue cracking of a forward fuselage longeron, slowed down to one-fifth the actual speed of the event!" In other words: "ZOMG! The cockpit broke apart!" Fortunately, the pilot survived the extremely violent accident, which is amazing although not as incredible as the Israeli pilot who managed to land his Eagle after a crash ripped off an entire wing:

Looking at this video it seems that the F-15s are quite formidable machines, even while the USAF investigation is pointing at Boeing's responsibility for a "faulty manufacturing process" that led to the failure of the long structural beams (longerons) that keep the fuselage together.

"The accident investigation board president (Wignall) found, by clear and convincing evidence, the cause of this accident was a failure of the upper right longeron, a critical support structure in the F-15C aircraft," the report says.
About 20 minutes after takeoff from an airfield near St. Louis on Nov. 2, the forward fuselage of Maj. Stephen Stilwell's $42 million F-15C Eagle shook violently and then broke apart 18,000 feet above the ground. Stilwell, his left shoulder dislocated and his left arm shattered, barely had time to safely eject as pieces of his aircraft tumbled from the sky over the Missouri countryside.

More troubling, however, are the results of a parallel examination finding as many as 163 of the workhorse aircraft also have flawed support beams, or longerons. The aircraft remain grounded as the Air Force continues to search for how serious the problem is and whether extensive, costly repairs are needed. Another 19 of the aircraft have yet to be inspected and also remain grounded.

Nearly 260 of the A through D model F-15s, first fielded in the mid-1970s, were returned to flight status Tuesday following fleet-wide inspections.

[Defense Tech and Military.com]