Boosted by development of the X-59 low-boom demonstrator for NASA and sensing the potential for an early jump start in the emerging commercial supersonic market, Lockheed Martin has unveiled details of a Mach 1.8 concept capable of transpacific routes with up to 40 passengers. The company believes its baseline design can economically operate on routes up to transpacific length while simultaneously overcoming the problems of sonic boom and airport noise that killed off the Concorde 16 years ago. Unlike earlier supersonic transport (SST) attempts by the industry, including by Lockheed, this time the concept builds on new enabling technologies in design, propulsion, aerodynamics and systems that were either not previously available or not sufficiently advanced.
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