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How does NY to LA in two hours sound to you? If Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division has anything to say about it, it may be the wave of the future for high-flying executives. Lockheed’s Skunk Works has been responsible for such aircraft as the U-2 spy plane, the SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Nighthawk (aka Wobbly Goblin). Lockheed Martin’s 12-seat QSST (Quiet Supersonic Travel) will have a maximum speed of 1,200 MPH or Mach 1.8. The operational range for the aircraft is listed at 4,600 miles and the QSST could take flight as early as 2013. The aircraft also makes use of an inverted “V” tail that helps to reduce the sonic boon signature effect that has kept supersonic passenger aircraft from criss-crossing our country for years. Designers expect the QSST to make a sonic boom less than a hundredth that of the Concorde’s aural impact. Concorde was barred from flying at supersonic speeds over the United States when it debuted in the 1970s because excessive noise was produced by pressure waves colliding in the plane’s wake. Now, using modern computer-aided design software to model quieter “boom reshaping” techniques pioneered by military test fighters, SAI hopes to use a smaller craft to fill a gap left by the collapse of the Concorde’s service following a fatal 2003 crash in Paris. Even though aircraft designers are looking to drastically reduce the effects of sonic booms over land, there are still laws in place that prohibit them altogether. Unless the laws are changed to accommodate newer and quieter technology, supersonic passenger planes may never see the light of day. However, if the regulations are changed, Lockheed Martin sees a market for as many as 300 of the planes at an estimated cost of $80M USD each.

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Filed under: Features, Transportation