Boom Supersonic: new supersonic aircraft XB-1

This week, the American startup Boom Supersonic made history in global civil aviation. This is the first private company to fly a supersonic aircraft. So far this is a prototype, which has reached a flight speed of only 440 km/h and can only accommodate a pilot. But it is on its basis that the company will build a real passenger supersonic airliner, which will continue the work of Concorde and Tu-144.

Prototype of hope

March 22 from the airfield of the Mojave Aerospace Center in California into the air got up The XB-1 is a supersonic aircraft from Boom Supersonic, which has been waiting for this moment for almost ten years. This is the first flight in the history of civil aviation of a supersonic passenger aircraft developed by a private company without government support.

“Today, the XB-1 flew into the same hallowed airspace where the Bell X-1 first broke the sound barrier in 1947,” Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl congratulated himself and his company. “I have been looking forward to this flight since Boom was founded in 2014 and marks the most significant milestone in our journey to bring supersonic travel to passengers around the world.” However, the development of an American startup is far from a real supersonic passenger airliner.

• The XB-1 is 21.6 m long.
• There is only enough space for one person – the pilot. On the appointed day, test pilot Bill Shoemaker was at the controls.
• The XB-1 spent 12 minutes in the air, flying over the Mojave Desert and returning back to the airfield.
• The plane reached an altitude of 2170 m, and its speed did not exceed 440 km/h. This is far from the speed of sound – 1224 km/h.

XB-1 is a demonstration model and prototype, the sole purpose of which is to test all the necessary technologies to fly a full-fledged model of a supersonic passenger airliner Boom Overture.

So, during the first flight of the XB-1, the company tested a new visual surveillance system – with numerous cameras and with augmented reality technology, which displays images from the cameras on a display directly in front of the pilot. Concorde and Tu-144 were equipped with a deflectable nose. This was necessary due to the nose section being elongated to accommodate the aerodynamic properties of the aircraft. In its normal position, such a nose simply blocked the pilots’ view. They would have to land blindly, and therefore the designers had to make a movable nose of the aircraft, which lowered during landing, freeing up the pilots’ view. Now there is no need for this.

The XB-1’s speed, duration and altitude will gradually increase during future tests. The aircraft is powered by three General Electric J85-15 turbojet engines, which should eventually help propel the XB-1 to Mach 2.2. These are old engines, developed back in the 1950s and used on the F-5 fighter jets. But for Overture the company is preparing its own development – Symphony engines. According to Boom Supersonic, there will be four of them on a commercial model of a supersonic airliner, and each of them is three times more powerful than three J85-15s combined. And the new engines will be able to ensure flight at a speed of Mach 1.7 for an airliner that can accommodate up to 80 passengers, promises an American startup.

First among the second

The XB-1 is the hope not only of Boom Supersonic, but also of all supporters of the use of supersonic aircraft for civil purposes. Once upon a time, such transportation was, if not extremely successful, then definitely in demand. And if subsonic passenger air transportation has long been staked out by Boeing and Airbus, the supersonic segment of the civil aviation market is divided between the Franco-British Concorde from Aerospatiale and BAC (now EADS and BAE Systems) and the Soviet Tu-144, developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau.

Soviet planes (there were only two of them) operated for only a couple of years, during which they managed to make 55 flights on the only route Moscow-Alma-Ata (now Almaty). Their operation was discontinued after the Tu-144D caught fire during an experimental flight in May 1978. The pilots managed to land the burning plane in a field, but two crew members died in the fire, and the plane itself was almost completely burned down.

The fate of the Concorde aircraft, which made transatlantic flights from 1976 to 2003, was completely different.

The date of death of supersonic civil aviation is considered to be July 25, 2000. On this day, a Concorde en route from Paris to New York crashed into the Hotelissimo and Les Relais Bleus hotels shortly after takeoff. 113 people died. The investigation did not reveal any violations in the operation of the aircraft or technical malfunctions. The cause of the disaster was a part that flew off an American airliner, which took off a few minutes before Concorde. But confidence in these airliners was undermined.

Demand for flights fell rapidly, and it became completely unprofitable for the only Concorde operators – British Airways and Air France – to send half-empty planes with increased fuel consumption on flights. First the French carrier refused them, and then the British one. Happened this is in 2003. Since then, not a single supersonic aircraft has taken to the skies for commercial passenger transportation.

In pursuit of supersonic

Despite the lack of flights, developments in this area did not stop. And both little-known startups and concerns with a rich history have been and are engaged in them.

For example, in January of this year NASA submitted own development of a supersonic passenger aircraft, created jointly with Lockheed Martin.

The experimental model, called X-59, according to the developers, is capable of accelerating to Mach 1.4.

At the same time, the agency and the company call this supersonic aircraft quiet. It is known that when an aircraft breaks the supersonic barrier, a loud bang is heard, which is why the operation of such airliners over residential areas was banned in many countries, including the United States, about half a century ago.

Development of the X-59 began in 2019, and assembly was completed in 2021. The first test flight is scheduled for late spring or summer of this year.

In addition, Spike Aerospace has been reporting on the development of its own model of a supersonic business jet for many years. The American company initially planned to show the aircraft project back in 2014 at the Oshkosh Air Show (Wisconsin). But over the years, the developer has not even demonstrated an experimental version of the business jet.

For a long time, the most promising initiative seemed to be the initiative of another US company – Aerion Corporation, which has been developing a supersonic business jet since 2004. The corporation managed to collect a portfolio of orders worth $11 billion, and the largest concerns helped with its development – Boeing and Airbus, General Electric and Lockheed Martin. However, in May 2021, the company announced that it was winding down the project due to a lack of funding.

There are no other contenders for the revival of supersonic commercial aviation yet. And airlines froze in anticipation of successful tests of the XB-1. Overture aircraft have already been ordered Japan Airlines (up to 20 pieces), United Airlines (15 plus an option to purchase 35 more) and American Airlines, which ordered 20 supersonic jets with an option to purchase 40 more.

Kirill Sarkhanyants