BOEING'S weapons arm is set to unveil a devastating new aircraft that it claims will change air warfare forever.

The aerospace giant teased the new superplane - thought to be based on a HAIRDRYER - by tweeting a picture of it covered in black cloth ahead of the big reveal later today.

4 Credit: Boeing

The mystery plane is thought to be powered only by electricity, and is expected to have the ability to land and take off vertically.

The unveiling comes just months after Boeing bought Aurora Flight Sciences Corp, which earlier beat Boeing to a series of lucrative Pentagon contracts for vertical take-off technology.

So-called "hairdryer" craft boast swivelling wingtip electric fans for takeoff and landing, and have the ability to achieve a sustained flight speed of 345-460 miles per hour.

The new plane could be based on Auora's terrifying Lightning Strike drone, which can land virtually anywhere thanks to four sets of rotating fans.

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4 The new plane may be able to land and take off vertically due to the huge rotating fans in the fuselage Credit: Boeing

Earlier this year Boeing was handed £112 million by the US government to build the a space plane to carry small satellites into orbit at the drop of a hat.

Boeing has dubbed the pioneering new spaceship the "Phantom Express", but the military's top research wing refers to it as the XS-1.

The Phantom Express is due to launch in 2020 and was dreamed up by the boffins of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

4 The full prototype could revolutionise aerial warfare Credit: Boeing

4 It could be based on the terrifying 'lightning strike' drone, which can reach speeds of 400mph Credit: Aurora Flight Systems

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