Posted on June 14th, 2011
On Monday at the Paris Air Show, HyperMach Aerospace Industries plans to unveil a “next generation” supersonic business jet (SSBJ) that can fly from Paris to New York in 1 hour 45 minutes. Given prevailing westerly winds on this 4,000-nm trip, this puts the cruising speed of the HyperMach aircraft in the neighborhood of a blistering Mach 4.0, well over double the top speeds of the proposed SSBJ designs in development at Aerion (Mach 1.6) and Supersonic Aerospace International (Mach 1.8). In a press invite for its announcement next week, HyperMach also said its SSBJ could fly around the world in as little as five hours, which is just 48 minutes longer than it would take for the Aerion SSBJ to fly from Paris to New York at Mach 1.6. A HyperMach spokeswoman declined to reveal more details about the program, but company chairman and CEO Richard Lugg’s background might provide more clues about the SSBJ, especially its powerplants. Specifically, Lugg is also chairman and CEO of Portland, Maine-based SonicBlue Aerospace, a company “specializing in revolutionary hybrid turbine and scramjet…propulsion systems,” suggesting that this SSBJ will employ advanced technologies heretofore the preserve of the defense industry.
Tags: supersonic business jet, hypermach