Looking a little bit too much like an F-117 Night Hawk fighter on steroids Boeing’s blended wing unmanned test aircraft flew for the first time last week.

Designed and engineered by Boeing, NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, the aircraft are said to be able to carry greater amounts of equipment, burn less fuel and run quieter than traditional aircraft.

Ultimately its designers see it as a manned multi-role, long-range, high-capacity military aircraft.

NASA says these initial 8.5% scale model flights will validate the research on the aerodynamics and controllability of the shape, including comparisons of the flight data with the extensive wind-tunnel database.

Full Story Via NETWORKWORLD

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