Posted on 09/04/2020 12:37:53 PM PDT by billorites
The U.S. Air Force has taken initial steps to begin prototyping a supersonic aircraft that could someday carry the president around the world in half the time.
Last month, the service's Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate awarded a $1 million small business innovation research (SBIR) phase II contract to Exosonic, a start-up aerospace company, to begin the design and development of a low-boom executive airlift concept.
The 24-month contract for the plane called "Air Force One" when the president is on board requires the company to create the future aircraft's specifications, to include "power, weight, dimensions, communication systems, cabin layout" and a virtual reality model of the aircraft cabin space, Air Force Materiel Command told Military.com on Tuesday.
"Low-boom allows travelers to fly at supersonic speeds without generating disruptive booms for those on the ground," said AFMC spokesman Daryl Mayer
Separately, Exosonic is building a 70-seat passenger aircraft intended to fly at Mach 1.8 speeds "supersonically overland and overwater with a muted sonic boom," according to the company's website. A prototype roll-out for that project is expected in 2025, Mayer said.
The Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate contract, sponsored by the Air Force Research Lab, "will support Exosonic's efforts to develop and modify the company's commercial supersonic airliner to serve as an executive transport vehicle," the company said in its own release. "These modifications will include reconfiguring the aircraft cabin to include the required accommodations, communications equipment, and security measures that allow U.S. leaders and their guests to work and rest onboard the aircraft."
The latest contract follows another awarded to Hermeus Corp, another start-up developing Mach 5 commercial aircraft, traveling more than five times the speed of sound. The Georgia-based company successfully tested a Mach 5 engine prototype earlier this year, according to a company release.
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
Another taxpayer sinkhole.
With all of the current communication technology, it’s hard to justify why a president needs to be anywhere across the globe in half the time.
Sure, maybe after the commercial technology has all been developed, but I can’t see why we need to be on the bleeding edge for this transport.
Boy, that will look cool taxing up the runway in Latrobe.
The outside of the plane will be painted orange.
When a democrat president is elected, the color will change to communist red, with a hammer-and-sickle on all sides of the plane.
I notice that Trump often flies on the smaller 757.
I want to see the military concept for 82nd Airborne. The exist has got to be cool. LOL.
Just use Zoom Meetings.
It would be a lot cheaper and more effective to just design a really, REALLY good online meeting platform. Seriously.
The weight/thrust ratio allows the 757 to operate out of much shorter runways than the 747. That allows it into/out of places like Latrobe and Morristown, NJ.
It's also interesting to note that one of the big limiting factors of airports that the 747 can use is not runway length, but taxiway limitations on weight and especially wing span. The 747 is a big aircraft.
His old private jet was a 757. He probably feels right at home on the Air Force 1 version.
He’s been using it on short trips and to smaller airports since he took office. I don’t recall Obummer ever flying any fixed wing other than the 747.
That’s because the 747 had to lift Moochelle.
One of those beauties crashed.
It was an air-to-air with an F-104 chase plane during a photo shoot.
Preferably without Harrison Ford.
One of the sexiest airplanes ever designed.
I have a 1/72 scale model of that. You can get an idea of how large that plane is comparing it to my other 1/72 scale models.
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