It seems in the run-up to Farnborough 2018, airframers are pushing out the barrel with new concepts.
Boeing has – and it’s their Hypersonic Jet concept. Here’s a rendering of it.
t Hypersonic speeds are speeds that are deemed over Mach 5.
Boeing state that his design shown at American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference in Atlanta.
The plane could have both commercial flight or military use applications.
For Boeing, understanding the technology to enable Hypersonic flight will be key challenge – both in terms of how to build a plane like this, how to propel a plane like this (and the challenges of Hypersonic transport of even). Development in these fields has so far been military in nature
On the concept Kevin Bowcutt, senior technical fellow and Chief Scientist of Hypersonic states
“We’re excited about the potential of hypersonic technology to connect the world faster than ever before,”
“Boeing is building upon a foundation of six decades of work designing, developing and flying experimental hypersonic vehicles, which makes us the right company to lead the effort in bringing this technology to market in the future.”
So when will see one in flight? Here’s the rub – 20 – 30 years time… as a possibility.
Currently, attempts to move back to Supersonic flight (speeds at Mach 1 or above) are being pushed forward by Boom Technology, which seems to progressing with its design work to deliver a Mach 2.2 capable supersonic jet that could carry 55 passengers.
The last Supersonic passenger jet was of course – Concorde which was capable of Mach 2.04.
If we’ll ever see another faster than sound passenger plane in regular service, I would celebrate it. But there will be many challenges to overcome – be it technological or the supersonic boom….
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