Boeing, the second-largest defense contractor in the nation, plans to build a new hangar for flight tests and expand another building for assembly work.
Because spacecraft have no opportunity for flight testing, an intensely detailed acceptance checkout is handled in the clean room by automatic test equipment.
Over in the space gallery, the main attraction is the shuttle Enterprise, which was designed solely for flight testing in the atmosphere and will eventually be replaced by one of the spaceworthy shuttles when they are retired.
The plane, designated WA001, was used for flight tests from 1994, when it was completed, until 1997, logging 1,729 hours in the air, much less than it would have if it had been in regular service.
The plane does not meet international standards, but by the end of this year, the company hopes to have a lighter version, with advanced avionics from Western suppliers, ready for flight testing.
Mr. Lan and Andrei Chang, the Hong Kong-based editor of Kanwa Asian Defense Review, said that the photograph indicated that the aircraft had passed factory tests and was now bound for flight testing.
The Pentagon is considering adding more than $200 million to the Joint Strike Fighter program and providing more planes for flight tests to try to reduce the possibility of large cost overruns over the next several years, military and industry officials said on Friday.
And drones, because they are cheap and don't need a human pilot, lower the bar for aggressive behavior on the part of America's military leaders — as they will for China's navy, as soon as it makes its own inevitable foray into drone capabilities (indeed, there were reports last week that China was preparing its own stealth drone for flight tests).
Ms. Muratore, the Airbus spokeswoman, said the company remained confident that the lithium-ion battery system that it had been developing with its French supplier, Saft, was "robust and safe," and added that Airbus still planned to use lithium-ion batteries on the A350s it will use for flight tests scheduled to begin this summer.
