Boom Supersonic's Fourth Test Flight
By Geoffrey Thomas Sat Sep 21, 2024
Boom Supersonic XB-1, continues to progress toward Mach 1 after its fourth test flight.
Beginning with XB-1’s first flight on March 22, 2024, Boom’s demonstrator aircraft is advancing through its flight test program to confirm its performance and handling qualities, with approximately 10 subsonic flights planned before reaching supersonic speeds.
On its fourth – and fastest – test flight on September 21, 2024 the XB-1 reached the highest speeds so far at Mach 0.617, or 313 knots indicated airspeed – more than halfway to breaking the sound barrier at Mach 1.
The XB-1 provides the foundation for the design and development of Overture, Boom’s supersonic airliner.
The company says that the XB-1 leverages state-of-the-art technologies to enable efficient supersonic flight including digitally-optimized aerodynamics, carbon fiber composites, advanced supersonic engine intakes, and an augmented reality vision system for take-off and landing visibility.
The demonstrator will lead to full scale production of the Overture supersonic airliner that will carry up to 80 business class passengers at speeds up to Mach 1.7 with a range of 7867km.
Over land Overture will be 20% faster than conventional jets and over water twice as fast.
Boom has pre-orders and options for 130 Overtures from airlines such as American, United and Japan Airlines.
Last year Boom secured a major investment from the NEOM Investment Fund, a strategic investment arm of NEOM, the sustainable regional development in northwest Saudi Arabia.
As part of the agreement, Boom and NIF will collaborate on opportunities to make the Gulf region dramatically more accessible, through the power of supersonic flight.
The NIF investment now takes Boom’s total funding from investment and other capital sources to more than $700 million.
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