Boom Supersonic Rolls Out Demonstrator Aircraft In Bid To Break Sound Barrier

Boom Supersonic unveiled its first demonstrator aircraft X-B1, which is scheduled to begin flight testing next year, in a milestone for the U.S. startup planning a commercial airliner that can conquer the sound barrier

What is the XB-1?

Affectionately called the ‘Baby Boom’, the XB-1 is a one-third scale demonstrator for the forthcoming Boom Overture. It’s 68 feet long and has a 17-foot wingspan, and is powered by three 4,300 lbf engines. The XB-1 will only have a range of around 1,000 nmi but is only designed as a testbed for the technologies planned to be upscaled for the Overture.

The aircraft has been years in the making, taking into account all the design and preparation that has gone into it. July 2018 saw the construction of the horizontal stabilizer completed and the engines received. Wind tunnel testing was completed in November 2018 – tests that took a decade for Concorde.

Denver-based Boom said in a release that XB-1 will undergo a carbon-neutral flight test program which is to start next year in Mojave, California.

XB-1 has a 71 foot-long (21.6 m) fuselage, a carbon-composite airframe and three GE-designed J85-15 engines, the statement said.