ST. LOUIS, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency tasked Boeing to develop and fly the SolarEagle unmanned aircraft for the Vulture II demonstration program.
Boeing said the contract is valued at $89 million.
"SolarEagle is a uniquely configured, large unmanned aircraft designed to eventually remain on station at stratospheric altitudes for at least five years," said Pat O'Neil, Boeing Phantom Works program manager for Vulture II. "That's a daunting task but Boeing has a highly reliable solar-electric design that will meet the challenge in order to perform persistent communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions from altitudes above 60,000 feet."
Under the Vulture II agreement, Boeing will develop a full-scale flight demonstrator, including maturation of the critical power system and structures technologies.
During testing -- set to begin in 2014 -- the demonstrator will remain in the upper atmosphere for 30 days, harvesting solar energy during the day that will be stored in fuel cells and used to provide power through the night, Boeing said.
Key suppliers for the program include Versa Power Systems and QinetiQ.
