The SAI Quiet Supersonic Transport (QSST) was a project by
Supersonic Aerospace International (SAI) to develop a "virtually
boomless" commercial
supersonic business jet
A supersonic business jet (SSBJ) is a business jet travelling above the speed of sound: a supersonic aircraft. Some manufacturers are designing or have been designing SSBJs, but none are currently available. Usually intended to transport about t ...
. The project was announced around the year 2000 and provided update announcements until 2010. After three years without any updates, the last update was in 2013. As of 2022, there have been no more updates, and the project appears to have been abandoned.
Design and development
The
Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
Skunk Works
Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. It is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, beginning with the Lockheed P-38 Lightn ...
began developing the QSST in May 2001 under a $25-million contract from SAI.
Designed to cruise at an altitude of 60,000 feet (18,288 meters) at speeds of Mach 1.6 to 1.8 (approximately 1,218 to 1,370 statute miles per hour, or 1,920 to 2,204 kilometers per hour) with a range of 4,600 statute miles (approx. 7,402 km), the two-engine
gull-wing aircraft was designed to create a sonic boom only 1% as strong as that generated by the
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 ...
.
SAI invited engine proposals from General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce.
Each of the QSST's two engines must generate 33,000 pounds (approx. 14,968 kg) of thrust, comparable to the power of engines for midsize airliners.
The price per aircraft was expected to be about $80 million.
[
SAI had planned to select an engine once an international consortium to manufacture the jet was completed, achieve first flight in 2017, and begin customer deliveries by 2018.
The reduction in sonic-boom energy is achieved by increasing the ratio of length to wingspan, using canards, and ensuring that the individual pressure waves generated by each part of the aircraft structure reinforce each other less significantly, producing a light rumble on the ground without an objectionable sonic boom like conventional supersonic aircraft.
]
Supersonic Aerospace International
Supersonic Aerospace International, LLC (SAI) was an American aerospace firm. The company was begun in 2001 by Michael Paulson, son of 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 ...
founder Allen Paulson
Allen Eugene Paulson (April 22, 1922 – July 19, 2000) was an American businessman.
Business career in aviation
Born in Clinton, Iowa, Allen E. Paulson was on his own at age 13, supporting himself selling newspapers and doing janitorial wor ...
. It was working to build the QSST though there has been no news of the project since the company's website went dormant in 2010.
See also
References
External links
*
Popular Science: ''All Sonic, No Boom"''
by Eric Hagerman Posted 03.01.2007
{{Supersonic transport
Supersonic business jets
Abandoned civil aircraft projects of the United States
Gull-wing aircraft
Canard aircraft
Twinjets
QST
''QST'' is a magazine for amateur radio enthusiasts, published by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). It is a membership journal that is included with membership in the ARRL. The publisher claims that circulation of ''QST'' in the United St ...
High-wing aircraft