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The Boeing Bird of Prey is an American black project aircraft, intended to demonstrate stealth technology. It was developed by McDonnell Douglas and Boeing in the 1990s. The company provided $67 million of funding for the project. Phantom Works became part of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems after the Boeing–McDonnell Douglas merger in 1997.
The first flight was in 1996, and 39 more flights were performed through the program's conclusion in 1999.
Because it was a demonstration aircraft, the Bird of Prey used a commercial off-the-shelf turbofan engine and manual hydraulic controls rather than fly-by-wire. This shortened the development time and greatly reduced its cost. (A production aircraft would have computerized controls.)
The shape is aerodynamically stable enough to be flown without computer correction. Its aerodynamic stability is in part due to lift provided by the chines, as used in other aircraft including the SR-71 Blackbird. This provided lift for the nose in flight. This configuration, which can be stable without a horizontal tailplane and a conventional vertical rudder, is now a standard in later stealth unmanned aerial vehicles such as the X-45 and X-47, both of which are tailless aircraft that use drag rudders (wingtip airbrakes which are activated on one wing at a time) for yaw control.
The aircraft, which had given the designation "YF-118G" as a cover, was made public on October 18, 2002.
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|wing area sqft=220
|wing area sqm=20.4
|wing area note=(estimated)
|max takeoff weight lb= 7,400
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|eng1 name=Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5C
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|max speed kts= 260
|max speed mph=299
|max speed kmh=482
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|thrust/weight=<!-- a unitless ratio -->
|avionics=