Supersonic Transport - Current Research and Development

Current Research and Development

In April 1994, Aérospatiale, British Aerospace and Deutsche Aerospace AG (DASA) created the European Supersonic Research Program (ESRP) with plans for a second-generation Concorde to enter service in 2010. The plane was to be called the Avion de Transport Supersonique Futur. In parallel, SNECMA, Rolls-Royce, MTU München and Fiat started working together in 1991 on the development of a new engine. Investing no more than US$12 million per year, mainly company funded, the research program covers materials, aerodynamics, systems and engine integration for a reference configuration. The ESRP exploratory study is based on a Mach 2, 250-seat, 5,500 nautical mile-range (10,186 km) aircraft, with the baseline design looking very much like an enlarged Concorde with canards.

Meanwhile NASA started a series of projects to study advances in the state of SST design. As part of the High Speed Civil Transport program a Tu-144 aircraft was re-engined in order to carry out supersonic experiments in Russia in the mid-1990s, but development was ended in 1999.

Japan has a supersonic transport research program. In 2005, it was announced that a Japanese-French joint venture would continue research into a design the plane would be called Next Generation Supersonic Transport, JAXA hopes the Next Generation Supersonic Transport would be flying by 2015. An 11.5-meter model was successfully flight-tested in October 2005.

Another area that has seen research interest is the supersonic business jet (SSBJ). Some business jet customers are prepared to pay heavily for decreased travel times, and the noise issues are less serious in a smaller craft. Sukhoi and Gulfstream co-investigated such a craft in the mid-1990s, as did Dassault Aviation in the early 2000s. Aerion Corporation's Aerion SBJ, the SAI Quiet Supersonic Transport and Tupolev's Tu-444 are current SSBJ projects.

Another development in the field of engines is the pulse detonation engine. These engines, often referred to as PDEs, offer even greater efficiencies than current turbofan engines, while allowing for high speed use. NASA maintains a PDE research effort, with the baseline being a Mach 5 airliner. A PDE was test flown successfully in 2008.

At the most exotic, high supersonic designs like Reaction Engines Skylon would seem to be capable of reaching Mach 5.5 within the atmosphere, before activating a rocket engine and entering orbit. The design can later reenter the atmosphere and land back on the runway it took off from.

There is also a very long distance supersonic/hypersonic transport version of Skylon, the A2, being evaluated by the European Union as part of the LAPCAT project, which would travel at Mach 5 and would be capable of travelling Brussels to Sydney in 4.6 hours.

Tupolev planned to build the Tupolev Tu-244, but the project was cancelled in 1993.