With the recent news that Boom Supersonic has chosen October 7th as the date to reveal its first completed prototype, we thought we’d take a step back and look at all the companies who are racing towards producing a commercially viable supersonic passenger jet.
Aerion Supersonic and the AS2
Aerion is an American company headquartered in Reno (Nevada) with facilities in Palo Alto (California). The company proudly announces on its website that it has backing from both Boeing and GE Aviation – two of the biggest names in aerospace and aviation. At the end of 2019, Aerion had also announced an agreement with Safran for work on the landing gear and some of the AS2’s engine design. Other big names like Spirit Aerosystems and Honeywell are also part of the project.
Its product will be a supersonic passenger jet geared towards business travelers and sized accordingly.
Interestingly, Aerion says the AS2 will be the first supersonic aircraft designed with the ability to accept 100% biofuels.
Boom Supersonic and the Overture
Seemingly the furthest ahead in the supersonic race is Boom Supersonic, which is headquartered at Centennial Airport in Colorado. As mentioned earlier, the company will reveal its first prototype to the world this coming October. Named the XB-1, the prototype is a one third scale trijet, which will be used for testing and development – leading up to the full-size Overture later on down the road.
“With XB-1, we’re demonstrating that we are prepared to bring back supersonic. We’re ensuring that the supersonic future is safe and environmentally, and economically sustainable. We’ve learned that the demand for supersonic has grown even faster than we anticipated.” -Boom Supersonic
While the logos of Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Embraer, SpaceX and more, adorn Boom’s ‘Company’ page, it doesn’t provide much detail as to the relationship it has with these corporations. We’ve asked Boom about this and will update this article if new information comes in.
However, further down, it is made clear that Boom already has pre-order arrangements with two airlines: Japan Airlines for 20 jets, and Virgin Atlantic for 10. It’s this type of news that has us most excited about Boom as pre-order arrangements and options are a step closer towards reality.
Lockheed Martin and the X-59 QueSST
While Boom and Aerion hog the spotlight, Lockheed Martin is quietly working in the background on its own supersonic jet. In partnership with NASA, the company is developing a supersonic passenger jet with an emphasis on reducing sound levels.
Covering Concorde’s demise in numerous articles, it has become clear that many countries did not accept overland travel due to the sonic boom caused by supersonic jets when the sound barrier is broken. Thus the focus on noise reduction seems like a sound strategy – no pun intended.
Lockheed Martin’s X-59 QueSST (Quiet Supersonic Technology) is scheduled to have its first flight in 2021, with community flight tests to begin in 2023.
The race for first
It seems like a less-than-ideal time to be developing supersonic passenger travel, but these companies have had their projects in the works for many years up until now. The current global crisis will pass, and perhaps by the time one of the above jets will have its entry-into-service, there will actually be an appetite for supersonic (business) passenger travel.
Do you think Boom will actually be the first to get an aircraft to market? Or will one of the other companies beat it to the finish line? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
