The SubSonex is an

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

, single-seat, amateur-built

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by one or more jet engines. Whereas the engines in Propeller (aircraft), propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much ...

from

Sonex Aircraft Sonex Aircraft, LLC is an American kit aircraft manufacturer located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, producing kits for four all-metal homebuilt monoplanes. The company was founded in 1998 by John Monnett, who has designed the Monnett Sonerai sport a ...

's "Hornet's Nest" development division.

Design and development

The JSX-1 is a single place, single engine

similar in design to an Onex, with a

Waiex The Onex, Sonex, Waiex and Xenos are a family of lightweight, metal, low-wing, two seat homebuilt aircraft. Kits are produced and marketed by Sonex Aircraft, a small manufacturer based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. By 2014, 500 customer built airc ...

style Y tail, fixed main landing gear and a retractable nosewheel. Introduced at

AirVenture EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at the Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wiscon ...

2009, it is powered by a Czech-built

PBS TJ100 The PBS TJ100 is a Czech turbojet engine produced by PBS Velká Bíteš. The TJ100 engine entered service in 2003, and is the most popular of PBS's turbojet engines as more than 1,000 engines have been sold to 40 countries worldwide. The engin ...

turbojet engine mounted above the aft fuselage, with the exhaust exiting between the Y-tail. It achieved first engine test runs in December 2009. The engine produces 1100 N (240 lb) of thrust. Originally developed with only a central mono pod wheel, tail wheel and small wing tip outriggers, the prototype exhibited directional controllability problems during taxi tests. It was flight tested by jet-sailplane performer Bob Carlton in August 2011.Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 126. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. The production model of the SubSonex is the JSX-2. The landing gear was changed to a fully retractable, pneumatically-operated

tricycle A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a Human-powered transport, human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) Three-wheeler, three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for pa ...

configuration. At AirVenture 2013 the company began taking

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

10,000 deposits on production kits. The kit's projected price was US$125,000 in 2013 and US$135,000 in 2014. The first JSX-2 kit was shipped to a customer in February 2015, and completed and flown in October 2015.

Operational history

By January 2022, 17 examples had been

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

in the United States with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

. In August 2024, two JSX-2s were used by the

Michigan Air National Guard The Michigan Air National Guard (MI ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Michigan, United States of America. It is, along with the Michigan Army National Guard, an element of the Michigan National Guard of the larger United States Nationa ...

as "cruise missile threat replication aircraft" and drones during Exercise Northern Strike. The JSX-2s are supplied by KestrelX.

Variants

;JSX-1 :

Prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

version.

;JSX-2 :Second version with a BRS parachute, wider fuselage, more streamlined nose, and fully retractable undercarriage. Bob Carlton performed the first test flight with the prototype JSX-2 on 10 July 2014 from Wittman Field. Entered production as an amateur-built kit in the fall of 2014. ;JSX-2T :Two-seats in

side-by-side configuration Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

version announced in July 2019. It will use the same PBS TJ-100 turbojet engine with the PBS TJ-150 as an option. The design is projected to offer a cruise speed of over and an estimated useful load of . The aircraft was expected to be first publicly displayed at

Airventure EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at the Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wiscon ...

in July 2020, but the event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. ;NASC Tracer :Twin-jet

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

model for military and civil applications, designed by Sonex and the

Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation is an American engineering company. Operations Navmar provides engineering and technical solutions in the area of acoustics, electronics, aerodynamics, systems engineering, prototyping, sensors, electro-optics, ...

(NASC)

Specifications (JSX-2)

References

External links