The Daily Mail has recently reported that Boeing, Gulfstream and Lockheed Martin (with help from NASA) will be unveiling concepts for supersonic business jets that will have the capability of flying 2,500 mph and fly from London to Sydney in just four hours at the upcoming Farnborough Air Show.
Moreover, all three companies believe they are close to reducing the sonic boom that such a jet would produce to a sound that is “closer to a puff or plop” according to a Gulfstream engineer but aircraft makers will still need to prove to skeptical politicians that such jets and the sonic booms they produce will be acceptable to the public. After all, it was the sonic booms produced by the Concorde that helped to make the aircraft less commercially viable as they were forced to fly routes away from land.
Nevertheless and from a technical standpoint, the new supersonic business jets would use lighter composite materials, smaller fuselages and more advanced engines than the Concorde which had flown at speeds of up to 1,358 mph. Hence, passengers on the new supersonic business jets will travel at speeds of more than 2,485mph on a 12,000 mile flight from London to Sydney. In contrast, the Gulfstream’s new G650, which is currently the fastest subsonic executive jet, flies 7,000 miles at a 646mph and has a top speed of only 704mph.
Hence, the proposed 12-seat aircraft, which are expected to cost as much as $80 million each, are being marketed to wealthy European and Middle East buyers with the slogan: “To the USA and back in a working day.”
Source: The Daily Mail