In the last six months, there have been more articles on supersonic aircraft than I can remember reading in the past six years. If you believe everything you read, soon there will be many options to get you from NYC to London in seconds flat. The only thing we haven’t yet seen a patent announcement for is a Star-Trek-style Transporter. Anyone?
Seriously though, there is a lot of interest in flying faster and getting to destinations sooner. At Spike Aerospace, we see not only interest but a lot of demand for faster flight, too. While the Spike S-512 Quiet Supersonic Jet won’t offer trans-oceanic flights lasting 13 minutes (see below), we will cut current flight times in half. That is really exciting for our partners, customers, and investors. And it is really happening.
Here is a quick recap of some recent announcements about supersonic aircraft:
December, 2013 – Spike Aerospace announces development efforts on the Spike S-512 Quiet Supersonic Jet. With deliveries expected in the early 2020s, the Mach 1.6 (1100 mph) S-512 makes it from NYC to London in just three hours.
September, 2014 – Aerion Supersonic announces their AS2. With deliveries also projected in the 2020s, this Mach 1.5 jet is targeted at UHNW individuals.
July, 2015 – Airbus announces its patent on the “Concorde 2.” Not expected until the 2040s, this lowly Mach 4.5 airliner flies at 2,500mph – making NYC to London a painfully long one-hour trip.
October, 2015 – Charles Bombardier announces plans for the Skreemr. No date planned, but not expected until the 2040s or beyond. This aircraft flies at just Mach 10, 7,673mph, making the NYC to London journey a half-hour commute.
January, 2016 – Charles Bombardier ups his game and announces plans for the Antipode. Again, no date planned, but not expected until the 2060s or beyond. With snazzy warp drives, this tops out at Mach 24, or 16,000 mph. Blink, and you are here (there?).
March, 2016 – NASA announces a $20m grant to Lockheed Martin to design a scaled demonstrator one-passenger supersonic aircraft. The actual aircraft will cost $5-10 billion to develop and will not be available until 2035 or later.
March, 2016 – Boom Technologies announces that they are developing a 40 seat Mach 2.2 jet that will cost $5000 to fly round-trip between NYC and London. No delivery date was mentioned.
Within a few years, supersonic flight will be available thanks to Spike Aerospace, with developments based on available materials and proprietary technologies – not science fiction.
