X-48B flight a milestone for program

Looking like something out of a Batman movie, a small, unmanned experimental aircraft is taking to the skies over the Antelope Valley.

Continuing the tradition of X planes that dates back to 1947 at Edwards Air Force Base, Boeing Phantom Works is flight-testing a 21-foot-wide airplane called the X-48B. The aircraft is being used to try out a design concept called "blended-wing body" or "BWB" that could provide more lift, greater range and as much as 30percent greater fuel economy - a valuable element for military tankers and transports.

Unlike the traditional design in which a tubelike fuselage is fitted with wings, the blended-wing body merges the fuselage with the wing. The result is a cross between a conventional aircraft and a flying wing such as the B-2 stealth bomber.