Sep 23 2010
Boeing, a producer of commercial jetliners and military airplanes, has declared the signing of a pact with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, for the building of a remote controlled aircraft using solar power. The aircraft christened as SolarEagle is being produced under the funding of the Vulture II demo program and will make its maiden flight in 2014.
According to Pat O’Neil, program manger for the Vulture II project in Boeing Phantom Works, the planned SolarEagle will be an exclusively designed remote aircraft that can hover around stratospheric heights continuously for a period of five years. Though he ceded it as a tough task, he expressed optimism over the available solar electric design with the company that can cope with the military mission requirements of continuous communication, intelligent maneuvers, shadowing and investigation from a height above 60,000 feet.
Boeing has plans to purchase important technical components such as fuel cells, power systems and the required sized flight demonstrator from QinetiQ NA before starting the construction of its first aircraft. QinetiQ NA, a leading aviation company, had earlier flown its unmanned and remote controlled solar aircraft named Zephyr continuously for a record period of 83 hours.
Source: http://www.boeing.com/