CHINA’S state-owned aircraft company Comac has revealed plans for a stealthy supersonic jet that can fly at more than 1,200mph.
Designs for the ultra-fast jet, dubbed C949, promise significantly less noise than the retired Concorde and a 50% further flight range.
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Engineers at Comac have revealed details of the next-generation aircraft in a recent academic paper.
They say they are working on a jet that can achieve 6,800 miles – a much further stretch than the 4,500 mile capacity of the Concorde.
The project also aims to reduce the sonic booms to 83.9 perceived level in decibels – a sound the equivalent of a hairdryer, according to the South China Morning Post.
That is just one-twentieth of the Concorde’s deafening boom.
Concorde was blocked from taking overland flights following noise complaints, after civilians complained it was so loud it rattled windows and spooked livestock.
Reducing the noise of the sonic boom could help it overcome regulatory barriers, and compete with rival projects from Nasa and Lockheed Martin.
The aircraft, which is yet to make it off paper and onto tarmac, could advance China’s role in the modern supersonic aviation industry.
The US recently marked its first-ever commercial supersonic flight with the homegrown jet XB-1 from Colorado-based Boom Technology.
There are a number of companies in the US and worldwide vying to bring a commercial supersonic airliner to market.
XB-1’s inaugural flight lays the groundwork for the company’s Overture aircraft – a supersonic jet with the capacity for 64 passengers.
Meanwhile the Chinese jet is designed to hold 168 passengers, more than the 128 maximum capacity of the Concorde.
This will give the C949 more mainstream viability, and leave the Overture jet to more niche markets.
The team has designed the C949 to accommodate between 29 and 48 passengers in a business-class-style cabin – fewer than the Concorde’s 100-seat capacity.
Why did the Concorde fail?
CONCORDE was the supersonic passenger jet considered the ultimate luxury in air travel.
Air France and British Airways announced they would be retiring their fleet of Concorde planes on April 10, 2003.
The plane had its first commercial flight on January 21, 1976, and was retired after 27 years of service and 50,000 flights.
Several reasons led to the decision to retire Concorde.
Air France and British Airways cited low passenger numbers and high maintenance costs.
By the early noughties, the planes were outdated and expensive to run, despite being incredibly advanced when they were first introduced almost three decades previously.
The 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 majorly impacted passenger numbers, as people opted not to fly.
Passenger numbers also fell after an Air France Concorde crashed just minutes after taking off from Paris in July 2000.
The disaster killed all 109 people on board and four others on the ground.
The plane ran over a small piece of metal on the runway, which burst a tyre and caused an engine to ignite.
It was also the only aircraft in the British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer.
The C949 will also blast slightly slower than its predecessor, which managed to top 1,450mph in its heyday.
China’s Aero Engine Corporation is separately developing a hypersonic jet, known as Nanqiang No 1, that may fly six times faster than the Concorde when it takes to the skies.
The team first started working on the hypersonic jet in 2019, but are yet to make it go supersonic and reach speeds over Mach 1 (767mph).
A supersonic jet is one that can travel faster than the speed of sound at Mach 1, while a hypersonic jet is specifically five times faster, at Mach 5.
Supersonic and Hypersonic Jets
There are several types of hypersonic and supersonic jets. A breakdown of what’s been happening in the industry and what’s expected in the coming years.
Talon-A
- Built by Stratolaunch
- Reported speeds of Mach 5
- The first test flight conducted in 2024
X-59 Quesst
- Built by Nasa and Lockheed Martin
- Predicted max speeds of Mach 1.4
- The first test flight in 2024 – but subject to delays
Venus Stargazer M4
- Built by Venus Aerospace and Velontra
- Predicted max speeds of Mach 6
- First test flight in 2025
Quarterhorse MKII
- Built by Hermeus
- Predicted max speeds of Mach 2.5
- First test flight in 2026
Halcyon
- Built by Hermeus
- Predicted max speeds of Mach 5
- First test flight by 2030
Nanqiang No 1
- Built by China’s hypersonic plane programme
- Predicted max speeds of Mach 6
- First test flight in 2025
DART
- Built by Hypersonix Launch Systems
- Predicted max speeds of Mach 7
- First test flight in 2025
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