Bird of Prey Stealth Jet Paved Way for Modern Aircraft Manufacturing

In the late 1990s, Boeing developed a secret aircraft called the Bird of Prey, named after the Klingon warship from Star Trek. The jet was designed to test new stealth technologies and manufacturing methods, and it flew for six years in total secrecy before being revealed in 2002.

The Bird of Prey's creators, McDonnell Douglas and Boeing Phantom Works, used private funding of around $67 million to develop the aircraft between 1992 and 1999. It had a single Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D turbofan engine and could reach speeds of about 300 mph at an altitude of up to 20,000 feet.

Despite its impressive performance, the Bird of Prey's true innovation lay in its manufacturing techniques. The team used large single-piece composite structures, cheap disposable tooling, and virtual-reality modeling to design and assemble the aircraft. These methods have since become industry standard.