The Scaled Composite Proteus, built in the late 1990s as a multi-mission, high-altitude demonstration aircraft, took its 1,000th flight this week. Since it first flew in July 1998, the Proteus has logged over 4,000 flight hours. The long-winged aircraft is designed to operate as high as 50,000 feet for as long as 14 hours. It can be operated by onboard pilots or as a UAV.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/recent-updates/business-military/proteus-logs-1000th-flight