The Lockheed Martin/Boeing Tier III- (minus) unpiloted aerial vehicle undergoing an engine run on the ramp at, following its arrival at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Tier III Minus project used Dryden ground facilities during the flight test program. The vehicle was developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and Boeing Defense and Space Group to satisfy a goal of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office to supply responsive and sustained data from anywhere within enemy territory, day or night, in all types of weather. Dubbed DarkStar, the vehicle, with a wing span of 69 feet, was designed to fly above 45,000 feet at subsonic speeds on missions lasting more than eight hours. The first DarkStar prototype (article #695) made its first flight on March 29, 1996. At the begininning of its second flight, on April 22, 1996, it crashed on takeoff, and was destroyed. More than two years passed before the second Darkstar prototype (article #696) took to the air on June 29, 1998. The vehicle made a total of five flights, the last on January 9, 1999. The program was cancelled on January 28, 1999.
