France and Japan go supersonic

It would apper that France and Japan are investigating the possibility of developing a replacement for Concorde? What are peoples thoughts on this?

edition.cnn.com...

ps. i also remember rumours that airbus were considering this too.

[edit on 15-6-2005 by paperplane_uk]

I think this would be cool if they can get it to actually be profitable.

I hope it happens if for no other reason, just to see what concept they come up with using todays technology as opposed to 1960's tech as was on the Concord.

The only possible drawback is not being able to cross land masses, sonic boom and all. I always thought the idea of the modern "Yankee Clipper" would have been a technology boom as well as profitable. Who'd pay an extran 10,000 dollars to get to Tokyo from L.A. in two hours instead of fourteen?

it's actually quite a common misconception that the concorde didnt make a profit, particularly among Americans

Concorde Viability

Most Americans seem convinced that Concorde was not economically viable, but they should consider one or two things.

Both British Airways and Air France had said for years that they made an operating profit flying the planes. British Airways is no longer owned by the British government and must make a profit to survive, so there is no reason to doubt this statement.

How much profit did Concorde make for British Airways?

On average Concorde made and operating profit of £30-50 Million a year for British Airways in the boom years where many passengers were travelling first class. British Airways reportedly received £1.75 Billion in revenue for Concorde services against an operating cost of around £1 Billion. Air France made a much smaller profit.

the point is they are conducting reseach into reducing the effects of sonic booms to allow it to fly overland and not scare New Yorkers.

It will have to have a reduced sonic boom (only 20% - 40%) and it will have to have quieter engines.

The ministry added that Japan had successfully tested an engine that could theoretically reach speeds of up to five times the speed of sound. - BBC

Entire article


Sounds like a ramjet, which are a lot better than they were back during the Blackbird days. More efficient and less volatile.



[edit on 15-6-2005 by NWguy83]

Whether this aircraft every flies at all will be dependent on how much fuel
it consumes per passenger. The Concorde burned a metric tonne of fuel per
passenger on every trans-atlantic run. Does anybody have any info on this
things fuel consumption.

Originally posted by danwild6
Whether this aircraft every flies at all will be dependent on how much fuel
it consumes per passenger. The Concorde burned a metric tonne of fuel per
passenger on every trans-atlantic run. Does anybody have any info on this
things fuel consumption.

We dont even know what type of propulsion there using...so how the hell would anyone know its gas milage.

It will probably be a normal jet engine, but with them saying mach 5 research...ya never now. I would have to guess its a turbo/ram jet.

Well then it also depends on cost of development if this NextGen SST
heads to the runway it will depend on how much money is spent on R&D
as well as how much it costs to maintain and operate. Regardless I personally douby this will ever see it's first flight but thats just me I've
never been much on these mega-projects mainly because of cost of development which are always higher than anticipated. But it would be very
nice if this thing did become a reality.

drfunk while it might be true that concorde made a profit (a relatively small
one at that) have you calculated in the costs of developing the concorde.
And also even if this thing gets off the ground it will have to overcome some
of the same problems the concorde faced like true profitability to the
airlines that means how much this thing will cost to buy which is dependent
on how much money it will take to develope as well as cost of operation
and maintenance depends fuel and complexity of machine and as mentioned before the routes it can fly which are dependent not only on
the range of the vehicle but also on it's environmental impact. Like I said
before it would be great if it happened but I just don't think so. But that's
IMHO

Personally, I was hoping that the next-gen Supersonic passenger aircraft was going to have no sonic boom...allowing it to fly over land...then it would really be a success.

This Aircraft will still have a sonic boom...which constricts it to the oceans.
I'm more interested in Quiet Supersonic Aircraft...thats where the money's at, thats why I like the (QSST) Quiet Super-sonic Transport, An aircraft that will go faster then the speed of sound...over land, they expect it to cruise at mach 1.6-1.8, So this France-Japan one will go faster then it, but it doesn't incorporate low-boom tech, also this is expected in 2012, while France-Japan say around 2015, and it looks far cooler then any passenger jet before it, although what do you expect...It was designed, and will be built, by Lockheed Martin's SkunkWorks.

To see a video clip of this jet click the link and scroll to the bottom of the page. QSST video



[edit on 19-6-2005 by Murcielago]

Now that looks cool.
If they are able to build a larger version of that or atleast incorporate the technology into something bigger they would make a ton of cash. Way to go Lockheed!