Lockheed Martin and NASA Team up for a quiet supersonic jet

LM/NASA hook up
Wow, only $250 to design this technology from a clean slate?
Some of my stitches just popped from laughingwhilst reading this.
Also, notice the "artist conception" image is outside of skunk works.

I'd wager they have either 1) already solved this problem and are simply taking the pay check,
or 2) get paid even if they fail to deliver, and are just taking the pay check.

250 mil won't even buy you a bridge anymore.

a reply to: HomeyKXTA

The "Quieter" Boom, lulz.


I say make em as loud as possible, break windows, scare the women an children.

originally posted by: lordcomac
I'd wager they have either 1) already solved this problem and are simply taking the pay check,
or 2) get paid even if they fail to deliver, and are just taking the pay check.

250 mil won't even buy you a bridge anymore.

I'll take option 1... Pretty sure the military is ahead of the white world on this tech (although I couldn't say LM specifically)

a reply to: wirehead

That is why I'm still laughing.

Only $250? That must be the payroll for the camera crew and the one guy to open the hangar door and pull her out with a tow motor.

The military doesn't have the solution to everything, contrary to what people seem to think. The current solution doesn't eliminate the boom, it simply alleviates it somewhat.

a reply to: Zaphod58

contractors like LM and the others are where the money is at, i think it was Kelly Johnson when asked what he thought UFO's were and he said 'Un-Funded-opportunities'.

if these companies come up with amazing tech and no one wants to buy it or cant afford it, it might as well not exist.

No, the miliary (whatever that means) doesn't have a solution for the sonic boom. They don't care.

$247.5 million for a demonstrator aircraft, which most certainly will be sub-scale size, is nothing to scoff at.

And according to the article, they've already worked with NASA on the preliminary design. They don't start from scratch.

a reply to: moebius

The military cares greatly about the sonic boom. They just have had other priorities to deal with in the last few years, and didn't have the money to tie up in all the research and funding to develop something on a large scale. Having an aircraft that doesn't leave a sonic boom would be a huge benefit to the military.

a reply to: moebius

NASA has been researching this topic for many, many years in a variety of projects involving wind-tunnel models, highly modified flying demonstrators, and conventional aircraft (T-38, F-18, etc.). Industry participants have included Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing.

Did you ever see the F-15 with the extendable nose boom or the former F-5 that was reshaped with a fairing that made it resemble a pelican?

This new X-plane project is another step on the path toward practical sonic boom reduction. The goal is to allow supersonic flight over the U.S. (primarily for civil and commercial applications). The technology is the easy part. Changing the laws governing overland supersonic flight will be a more difficult hurdle.

a reply to: Shadowhawk

down in louisiana back when i was younger i remember my uncle who works at a hospital in New Orleans, told me a story about how the SR-71(possibly something else) accidentally broke the sound barrier and broke some windows near New orleans.

I-ve seen a f-15 doing a low pass over the water breaking the sound barrier as it passes, the shock wave condenses the water out of the air very cool effect. loud but cool.

i was under the impression there was already a flying quite boom demonstrator? maybe it's just for the military?

a reply to: penroc3

As I noted above, NASA has been involved with several quiet boom flight research projects. One was a modified F-15 with an extending nose boom to change the shape of the shock wave. Another involved changing the outer mold line of an F-5, again to reshape the shock wave created by the airplane at supersonic speeds. Special software has also been developed to map an airplane's shock footprint in real time so the pilot can adjust his flight path to mitigate boom effects.

a reply to: penroc3

Check out the F-5 project. It looked like a pelican:

www.nasa.gov...

a reply to: penroc3

There really is no such thing as "the sound barrier". The idea that there is some sort of barrier was the result of faulty math. Not a whole lot happens when an aircraft goes supersonic, except that a shockwave forms (and exists as long the plane remains supersonic).

That condensation cone effect you're referring to happens at transonic, rather than supersonic speeds. Depends more on the WX than anything else. I saw it happen during a Blue Angels show once, low level high speed pass right in front of the audience. Noisy (Hornets are noisy), but no boom.

a reply to: Phage

ahh, i was a younger child when i saw it at an air show so i probably conflated it in my mind to mean it was going supersonic.

there is a sound barrier but is different depending on altitude and weather so i would say its a sliding limit


shadow hawk, the f-5 is pretty funny looking. doesn't some SLBM's use an extendable boom that uses an electric effect to break the shockwave up making it easier for it to fly?