Lockheed's 'Low-Boom' Aircraft

[blessmycottonsocks]

Another design seemingly influenced by Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation, the latest chunk of high-tech to emerge from Lockheed's Skunk Works is the X-59:

The narrow, elongated fuselage and canard wings prevent shock waves from coalescing, resulting in the sonic boom at ground level, being reduced to no more than 75 decibels - comparable to a car door closing.

The design means that the pilot has zero forward vision and so will have to rely on a 4k forward-facing camera (Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle anyone?).

First flight is scheduled for 2022.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_X-59_QueSST

 

[Analogue Boy]

You’re not wrong there.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

You’re not wrong there.

View attachment 42151

At least the Angels had forward vision - unlike the driver of this thing:

 

[Ascalon]

Have been following this closely.
There are a few efforts around this, civilian, and otherwise.

One went by the wayside recently, but the Boom XB-1 looks promising.

This is the 1/3 scale prototype:

Heavy use of CAD and CFD to do as much as possible virtually before making metal, so to speak. This would also be a low boom design.