A supersonic business jet (SSBJ) is a

business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...

travelling above the

speed of sound The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. At , the speed of sound in air is about , or one kilometre in or one mile in . It depends strongly on temperature as we ...

: a

supersonic aircraft A supersonic aircraft is an aircraft capable of supersonic flight, that is, flying faster than the speed of sound (Mach number 1). Supersonic aircraft were developed in the second half of the twentieth century. Supersonic aircraft have been use ...

. Some manufacturers are designing or have been designing SSBJs, but none are currently available. Usually intended to transport about ten passengers, proposed SSBJs would be about the same size as subsonic business jets. Only two commercial

supersonic transport A supersonic transport (SST) or a supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupol ...

s entered service: the Aérospatiale/British Aerospace

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

and the

Tupolev Tu-144 The Tupolev Tu-144 (russian: Tyполев Ту-144; NATO reporting name: Charger) is a Soviet supersonic passenger airliner designed by Tupolev in operation from 1968 to 1999. The Tu-144 was the world's first commercial supersonic transport ai ...

. Both were designed with government subsidies and did not recoup development costs. They had high operating costs and high noise. The Boom Technology Overture is a smaller supersonic airliner project. Some manufacturers believe these concerns can be addressed at a smaller scale, offering high speed transport for small groups of high-value passengers,

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive di ...

s or

heads of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

. Current proposals include SAI Quiet Supersonic Transport and Spike S-512. Former proposals include the

Aerion SBJ The Aerion SBJ was a supersonic business jet project designed by American firm Aerion Corporation. Unveiled in 2004, the designer sought a joint venture with a business aircraft manufacturer for a $1.2–1.4 billion development in 7–8 years ...

Aerion AS2 The Aerion AS2 was a proposed supersonic business jet that was being developed by Aerion Corporation. In May 2014, it was announced that the Aerion AS2 would be part of a larger Aerion SBJ redesign, which aimed for release after a seven-year de ...

HyperMach SonicStar HyperStar is a proposed supersonic jet airliner designed by HyperMach CEO Richard H. Lugg. Lugg said, in a 2016 ''Altitudes Aviation'' interview and at a 2014 presentation at the Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi, that he plans to have the hy ...

, Sukhoi-Gulfstream S-21 and Tupolev Tu-444. Several companies, including

Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is an American aircraft company and a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics. Gulfstream designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and services business jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,000 ...

, work on

sonic booms A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to t ...

-mitigation technologies like the Quiet Spike.

Timeline

In 1997,

Dassault Aviation Dassault Aviation SA () is a French manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets. It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marcel Bloch changed his name to Marcel Da ...

was considering a Mach 1.8 supersonic business jet powered by three non-afterburning engines derived from subsonic aircraft, with a cabin similar to the Falcon 50, capable of flying between Paris and New York. With a MTOW and over of fuel, it would cover a range of 7,200 km (4,500 nmi). In September 2004, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

selected the HISAC High Speed Aircraft program, launched with Dassault in 2005 and evaluating the feasibility of a small supersonic aircraft. By 2019, Dassault was reserved about the prospects for a supersonic business jet. In January 2018,

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

proposed a civil SSBJ variant of the Tu-160 bomber, for a potential market of 20-30 units in Russia alone at $100-120 million each. UAC previously studied a SSBJ, displaying a scale model at MAKS Air Show 2017, to be designed and built in seven years with an existing engine like the

NK-32 The Kuznetsov NK-32 is an afterburning three-spool low bypass turbofan jet engine which powers the Tupolev Tu-160 supersonic bomber, and was fitted to the later model Tupolev Tu-144LL supersonic transport. It produces of thrust in afterbur ...

and a titanium

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...

, a limited production would be worth an expected $150 million price. In August 2020,

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and his British Virgin Group retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The compan ...

announced the design of a high speed

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ). Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suita ...

aircraft for 9 to 19 people, targeting Mach 3 above , in partnership with

Rolls-Royce plc Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for ...

for its propulsion.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{Supersonic transport Business aircraft

Business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...