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Boom Overture

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Overture
Concept art of Boom Overture in flight
Role Supersonic airliner
National origin United States
Manufacturer Boom Technology
Introduction 2029/2030 (planned)[1]
Status Under development

The Boom Overture is a proposed supersonic airliner under development by Boom Technology. Its design will be capable of traveling Mach 1.7 (1,000 kn; 1,800 km/h; 1,100 mph), with 64–80 passengers depending on configuration, and 4,250 nmi (7,870 km; 4,890 mi) of range. The Overture is planned to be introduced in 2029.[2] The company claims that with 500 viable routes, there could be a market for up to 1,000 supersonic airliners with fares similar to business class. The aircraft is planned to have a delta wing configuration (similar to Concorde), but will be built with composite materials. Following a redesign revealed in 2022, it is intended to be powered by four dry (non-afterburning) 35,000 lbf (160 kN) turbofans.[3]

Market

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The company says that five hundred daily routes would be viable: at Mach 1.7 over water, Newark and London would be 3 hours and 30 minutes apart; Newark and Frankfurt would be 4 hours apart. With 4,500 nmi (8,300 km) range, transpacific flights would require a refueling stop: San Francisco and Tokyo would be 6 hours apart.[4][5] There could be a market for 1,000 supersonic airliners by 2035.[5] Boom targets a $200 million price, not discounted and excluding options and interior, in 2016 dollars. The company claims that operational costs per premium available seat mile will be lower than subsonic wide-body aircraft.[6] The Boom factory will be sized to assemble up to 100 aircraft per year for a 1,000- to 2,000-aircraft potential market over 10 years.[7]

Boom plans to target $5,000 fares for a New York-to-London round-trip, while the same on Concorde cost $20,000 adjusted for inflation; it was its only profitable route.[8] The same fuel burn enables fares similar to subsonic business class among other factors.[7] For long-range routes like San Francisco–Tokyo and Los Angeles–Sydney, 30 lie-flat first-class seats could be proposed alongside 15 business-class seats.[9]

In March 2016, Richard Branson confirmed that Virgin Group held options for 10 aircraft, and Virgin Galactic's subsidiary The Spaceship Company will aid in manufacturing and testing the jet.[10] However, in 2023, Virgin Group announced that its purchase options had expired.[11] An unnamed European carrier also holds options for 15 aircraft; the two deals total 5 billion dollars.[12] At the 2017 Paris Air Show, 51 commitments were added for a backlog of 76 with significant deposits.[9] In December 2017, Japan Airlines was confirmed to have pre-ordered up to 20 jets among the commitments to 76 from five airlines.[13] Boom CEO Blake Scholl thinks 2,000 supersonic jets will connect 500 cities and one-way tickets between London and New York will be priced around £2,000, comparable with existing subsonic business class.[14]

On June 3, 2021, United Airlines announced it had signed an agreement to purchase 15 Overture aircraft with an additional 35 options, expecting to start passenger flights by 2029.[15][16] On August 16, 2022, American Airlines announced an agreement to purchase 20 Overture aircraft with an additional 40 options.[17]

Order summary

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Date Customer Orders Options Notes
March 23, 2016 Virgin Group – 10 Options cancelled on July 10, 2023[18][10]
December 5, 2017 Japan Airlines – 20 [19]
June 2017 Unidentified customers – 51 [20]
June 3, 2021 United Airlines 15 35 [21]
August 16, 2022 American Airlines 20 40 [22]
Totals 35 146

Development

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By March 2016, the company had created concept drawings and wooden mockups of parts of the aircraft.[23]

In October 2016, the design was stretched to 155 ft (47 m) to seat up to 50 passengers with ten extra seats, its wingspan marginally increased, and a third engine was added to enable ETOPS with up to a 180 minutes diversion time.[24] The plane could seat 55 passengers in a higher-density configuration.[25] In June 2017, its introduction was scheduled for 2023.[9] By July 2018, it was delayed to 2025.[26] At the time, it had undergone over 1,000 simulated wind tunnel tests.[14]

Boom initially targeted a Mach 2.2 cruise speed to fit with transoceanic airline timetables and allow higher utilization, while keeping airport noise to Stage 4, similar to subsonic long-range aircraft.[27] The plane configuration was intended to be locked in late 2019 to early 2020 for a launch with engine selection, supply chain, production site.[27] Development and certification of the airliner and its engine were estimated at $6 billion, requiring Series C investors.[27] Enough money was raised in the B round of fundraising to be able to hit key milestones, including flying the demonstrator (XB-1) to prove the technology, building up an order backlog, finding key suppliers for engines, aerostructures, and avionics, and lay out the certification process, with many special conditions but with precedents.[27]

At the June 2019 Paris Air Show, Boom CEO Blake Scholl announced the introduction of the Overture was delayed from 2023 to the 2025–2027 timeframe, following a two-year test campaign with six aircraft.[28] In September 2020, the company announced it has been contracted by the United States Air Force to develop the Overture for possible use as Air Force One.[29]

On October 7, 2020, Boom publicly unveiled its XB-1 demonstrator, which it planned to fly for the first time in 2021 from Mojave Air and Space Port, California. It expected to begin wind tunnel tests for the Overture in 2021, and start construction of a manufacturing facility in 2022, with the capacity to produce 5 to 10 aircraft monthly. The first Overture would be unveiled in 2025, with the aim of achieving type certification by 2029.[30] Flights should be available in 2030, as estimated by Blake Scholl.[31]

Boom currently targets a slower Mach 1.7 cruise.[32] In January 2022, Boom announced a grant of US$60m from the US Air Force’s AFWERX program to further develop the Boom Overture supersonic airliner.[33] In July 2022, Boom announced a partnership with Northrop Grumman to develop a 'special mission' variant for the U.S. Government and its allies.[3] As of January 2022, the Overture's first flight is planned for 2026 with introduction into service expected in 2029.[34]

On July 19, 2022, Boom unveiled a revised proposal for the production version of the Overture at the Farnborough Airshow. This version has four engines and a tailed delta wing.[3]

On December 13, 2022, Boom announced that it would develop its own turbofan engine after "Big Three" engine manufacturers Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney and General Electric, as well as CFM and Safran previously declined to develop a new engine due to high capital costs.[35][36][37][38] Named Symphony, the engine will be developed under partnership with three entities: Kratos subsidiary Florida Turbine Technologies for engine design; StandardAero for maintenance; and General Electric subsidiary GE Additive for consulting on printing components.[39]

Design

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Boom's original design for Overture was a trijet, which resembled a 75% scale model of Concorde and the XB-1 "Baby Boom" test vehicle was designed and built on this basis, which took its first flight in March 2024. However, in mid-2022, the company announced a radical redesign of Overture into a quadjet, to closely resemble the unsuccessful Boeing B-2707-300 design from the 1970s.[40]

A major change is that the new design features four large external engine pods rather than the two more compact engine 'box' nacelles, used on Concorde. This design has not been seen in high speed aircraft since the Convair B-58 Hustler bomber[41] of the 1960s, due to high supersonic wave drag implications. It also now features a small horizontal stabilizer. Due to the low 1.5 wing aspect ratio, low-speed drag is high, and the aircraft requires high thrust at take-off.[42] Boom also needs to address the nose-up attitude on landing.[42] Airframe maintenance costs are expected to be similar to those of other carbon fiber airliners.[5] The Overture should have lower fuel burn than Concorde by relying on dry (no afterburner) engines, composite structures, and improved technology since Concorde's development, although until Overture flies, Concorde remains the only Mach 2.0 supercruising aircraft in history and carried 30% more passengers than Boom is currently projecting.

In 2017 the FAA and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) were working on a sonic boom standard to allow supersonic flights overland.[43] NASA plans to fly its Low Boom Flight Demonstrator for the first time in 2022 to assess public acceptability of a 75 PNLdB boom, lower than Concorde's 105 PNLdB.[43] [needs update] The Overture is expected to not be louder at take-off than current airliners like the Boeing 777-300ER.[43] Supersonic jets could be exempted from the FAA takeoff noise regulations, reducing their fuel consumption by 20–30% by using narrower engines optimized for acceleration over limiting noise.[13] In 2017, Honeywell and NASA tested predictive software and cockpit displays showing the sonic booms en route, to minimize its disruption overland.[44]

Design changes announced in July 2022 included an increase in the number of engines to four to allow for smaller less technically challenging engines and to allow takeoff at derated levels to lower noise, and redesigned gull form wing and fuselage to reduce drag.[3]

Engines

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Main article: Boom Symphony

The Boom Symphony is planned as a two-spool medium-bypass turbofan engine for use on Overture. The engine is intended to produce 35,000 pounds (160 kN) of thrust at takeoff, sustain Overture supercruise at Mach 1.7, and burn sustainable aviation fuel exclusively.[45]

Boom announced in December 2022 that development of the engine will be conducted in partnership with Kratos subsidiary Florida Turbine Technologies for engine design, GE Aerospace subsidiary GE Additive for additive manufacturing consulting, and StandardAero for maintenance. FTT/KTT is currently a maker of microturbines for drones and cruise missiles.

Boom aims for initial production of the engine to begin in 2024 at the Overture Superfactory at Greensboro, North Carolina.[45][46][47]

Environment

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Drag increases (and therefore fuel efficiency decreases) with cruising speed, and there is a particularly severe increase in drag around the sound barrier.[48] Boom agrees that the fuel efficiency of the aircraft will be lower than subsonic competition,[49] but states that operators of the aircraft "must use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and/or purchase high-quality carbon removal credits" to reduce the environmental impact.[50] However, sustainable aviation fuel is not yet widely available, with large-scale production relying on technology that does not yet exist,[49] and carbon-offsetting schemes have been widely criticized as being unable to deliver net-zero.[51]

Specifications

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Data from Boom[32]

General characteristics

  • Capacity: 64 to 80 passengers
  • Length: 201 ft (61 m)
  • Wingspan: 60[44] ft (18 m)
  • Max takeoff weight: 170,000[8] lb (77,111 kg)
  • Powerplant: 4 × Boom Symphony medium-bypass turbofans , 35,000 lbf (160 kN) thrust each

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 975 kn (1,122 mph, 1,805 km/h)
  • Maximum speed: Mach 1.7
  • Range: 4,250 nmi (4,890 mi, 7,870 km)
  • Balanced field length: 10,000 ft (3,048 m)[52]

See also

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Related development

Related lists

References

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  1. ^ "Son of Concorde: New supersonic airplane Overture revealed". BBC News. July 23, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
  2. ^ "Overture". Boom Supersonic.
  3. ^ a b c d Norris, Guy (July 19, 2022). "Boom Unveils New Look Overture and Northrop Grumman Partnership". Aviation week. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  4. ^ "United Adding Supersonic Speeds with New Agreement to Buy Aircraft from Boom Supersonic" (Press release). United Airlines. June 3, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Aaron Karp (May 3, 2017). "Boom CEO sees market for 1,000 supersonic passenger jets by 2035". Air Transport World. Aviation Week.
  6. ^ "What does the airplane cost?". FAQ. Boom.
  7. ^ a b Dominic Perry (November 13, 2017). "Boom Supersonic to pick engines in 2018". Flightglobal.
  8. ^ a b Stephen Trimble (November 11, 2017). "Boom to make a big noise at show about shortening long-haul travel". Flightglobal.
  9. ^ a b c Stephen Trimble (June 20, 2017). "Boom Aerospace unveils design for XB-1 demonstrator". Flightglobal.
  10. ^ a b Kokalitcheva, Kia (March 23, 2016). "This Startup Is Developing Supersonic Planes for Virgin Group". Fortune.
  11. ^ McFadden, Christopher (July 11, 2023). "Virgin Group has decided not to buy 'Overture' supersonic jets". interestingengineering.com. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  12. ^ "Boom, the startup that wants to build supersonic planes, just signed a massive deal with Virgin". TechCrunch. Oath Tech Network. March 23, 2016.
  13. ^ a b Stephen Trimble (December 5, 2017). "JAL invests heavily in supersonic Boom". Flightglobal.
  14. ^ a b Tom Batchelor (July 23, 2018). "Supersonic jets linking 'hundreds' of cities with ultra-fast flights will be 'affordable for all', plane maker insists". The Independent.
  15. ^ United Airlines [@United] (June 3, 2021). "We're the first U.S. airline to sign an agreement for @boomaero's 'Overture' airliners which are expected to be net-zero carbon and connect 500+ cities in nearly half the time. Taking off in 2029: http://boomsupersonic.com/united #BoomSupersonic" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ^ Linanne, Ciara (June 3, 2021). "United Airlines to add 15 Boom 'Overture' supersonic airliners to fleet". Market Watch. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  17. ^ "American Airlines Announces Agreement to Purchase Boom Supersonic Overture Aircraft, Places Deposit on 20 Overtures". news.aa.com. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  18. ^ "Virgin Galactic abandons Boom Supersonic jet order - AeroTime". July 10, 2023. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  19. ^ Supersonic, Boom (November 25, 2020). "Our partnership with Japan Airlines". Medium. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  20. ^ "Chasing the supersonic future: Who is after the Boom Overture? - AeroTime". August 17, 2022.
  21. ^ "Boom - United". Boom. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  22. ^ "Boom - News - American Airlines Announces Agreement to Purchase Boom Supersonic Overture Aircraft, Places Deposit on 20 Overtures". Boom. August 16, 2022. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  23. ^ Szondy, David (March 22, 2016). "Can Boom bring back supersonic flight without the astronomical price tag?". Gizmodo. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  24. ^ "Potential Mach 2.2 Airliner Market Pegged At $260 Billion". Aviation Week. October 12, 2016.
  25. ^ Guy Norris (November 15, 2016). "'Baby Boom' Supersonic Demonstrator Unveiled". Aviation Week.
  26. ^ Mark Phelps (July 18, 2018). "Supersonic Future Remains Uncertain, Says New Report". AIN online.
  27. ^ a b c d Graham Warwick (January 23, 2019). "Boom Advances Overture Supersonic Airliner As Demonstrator Takes Shape". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
  28. ^ Greg Waldron (June 19, 2019). "Boom XB-1 schedule slips, while JAL eyes Overture". flightglobal.
  29. ^ Cook, Marc (September 8, 2020). "Boom Enters Supersonic Air Force One Race". AVweb. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  30. ^ Hemmerdinger, Jon (October 7, 2020). "Boom rolls out XB-1 supersonic demonstrator, lays out Overture timeline". Flight Global.
  31. ^ Jon Hersey (October 7, 2020). "Reinventing Flight: An Interview with Blake Scholl". The Objective Standard.
  32. ^ a b "Overture". Boom Supersonic. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  33. ^ Eric Berger (January 27, 2022). "US Air Force spends $60 million on supersonic commercial airliner". ArsTechnica.
  34. ^ "Supersonic Jet Maker Boom is Building a New 'Superfactory' in North Carolina". January 27, 2022.
  35. ^ Guy Norris (July 10, 2018). "Boom Focuses On Derivative Engines For Supersonic Airliner Plan". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
  36. ^ Hemmerdinger, Jon. Engine makers sound downbeat on supersonic, leaving Boom in a bind", Flight Global. (retrieved 19 October 2022)
  37. ^ Hamilton, Scott. "Pontifications: No engines, billions shy, devastating enviro analysis, Boom's CEO still exudes optimism", Leeham News, 20 September 2022. (retrieved 19 October 2022)
  38. ^ Pilar Wolfsteller, Pilar. "CFM will not develop engine for supersonic ‘niche’ market: CEO", Flight Global, (Subscription only).(retrieved 19 October 2022)
  39. ^ Rains, Taylor. "Supersonic jet startup Boom says it will create its own engine with 3 partners after every major manufacturer refused to help". Business Insider. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  40. ^ Schuurman, Richard (July 19, 2022). "Boom Supersonic radically changes Overture design". Airinsight.com. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  41. ^ "Convair B-58A Hustler". National Museum of the United States Air Force. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  42. ^ a b Bjorn Fehrm (November 17, 2016). "Will Boom succeed where Concorde failed?". Leeham News.
  43. ^ a b c Guy Norris (December 5, 2012). "JAL Options Up to 20 Boom Supersonic Airliners". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
  44. ^ a b Sean Broderick (December 5, 2017). "Boom Lands Japan Air Lines as Major Investor, Customer". AIN.
  45. ^ a b "Boom Supersonic announces Symphony™, the sustainable and cost-efficient engine for Overture". Boom Supersonic (Press release). December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  46. ^ Ganapavaram, Abhijith (December 13, 2022). "Boom taps Kratos to power supersonic plane Overture, delays rollout". Reuters. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  47. ^ Coldewey, Devin (December 13, 2022). "Boom takes the wraps off its supersonic Symphony engine design". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  48. ^ "Transonic Flight | SKYbrary Aviation Safety". skybrary.aero. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  49. ^ a b Chin, Kimberly. "Boom Says Its Supersonic Jet Will Be Green Too. Not Everybody's Convinced". WSJ. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  50. ^ Boom Supersonic (2021). "Environmental Sustainability Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 8, 2023.
  51. ^ Lakhani, Nina (September 19, 2023). "Revealed: top carbon offset projects may not cut planet-heating emissions". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  52. ^ "Airliner". Boom Technology. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
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