Boeing SolarEagle explained

The Boeing SolarEagle (Vulture II) was a proposed High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle solar-electric spy plane developed by Boeing Phantom Works.^[1]

The proposed aircraft had a wingspan of 393.7abbr=offNaNabbr=off, and was intended to remain airborne for up to five years at a time without needing to land.^[2] It had 20 motors of the same type as the Qinetiq Zephyr designed by Newcastle University. Boeing was awarded an $89 million contract by DARPA's Vulture program,^[3] with Boeing covering the remainder.^[4] It was slated to make its first flight in 2014, but in 2012 the SolarEagle project was cancelled^[5] and DARPA's Vulture program was refocused on advancing photovoltaic and energy storage technologies.^{[6] [7]}

Notes and References

1. Haddox, Chris. "SolarEagle (Vulture II) Backgrounder" Boeing Phantom Works, September 2010. Retrieved: 18 October 2010.
2. Web site: Remote robots: Human-free by land, sea and air. New Scientist.
3. Boeing Wins DARPA Vulture II Program . MediaRoom . March 10, 2022 . September 16, 2010.
4. Web site: The pilotless plane that can stay in the air for years. 4 December 2012. 27 July 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120927021154/http://ukinegypt.fco.gov.uk/en/business/ukti-news/air. 27 September 2012.
5. Web site: Facebook's UAV Flies, Builds On Developments In Solar Power | Aviation Week Network. aviationweek.com.
6. Web site: Vulture. darpa.mil. en.
7. Web site: Solar Drones Are Filling the Skies, But There's Still No Clear Winner . popularmechanics.com. 9 May 2019 . en.