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"The beginning of the manufacturing of the project marks a big step forward for the X-59 and the future of silent supersonic commercial travel," said Peter Iosifidis, Low Beer Program Manager at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.
"The long and slender design of the aircraft is the key to achieving a low sonic boom.While we are entering the manufacturing phase, the aircraft structure is starting to take shape, which brings us even closer more of the possibility of allowing passengers from around the world to travel in a supersonic way, "he added.
The X-59 will make its first flight in 2021. It will be used to collect data on the community's reactions to the acceptability of the silent sonic buzz generated by the aircraft, allowing NASA to establish an acceptable supersonic commercial noise standard to overturn existing regulations prohibiting supersonic displacements on land.
Read more: Lawmakers pave the way for the return of supersonic flight
This new contract is a separate company from Lockheed Martin's work with Aerion Corp. to develop a supersonic business jet, the AS2, whose first flight is scheduled for 2023.
Lockheed Martin is also developing the SR-72, a hypersonic unmanned aircraft dubbed the "black robin's son". And when it comes to developing a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft, the Pentagon's main arms supplier plays in front of its own terrain.
In 1976, the Air Force flew Lockheed Martin's SR-71 Blackbird between New York and London in less than two hours – at a speed above Mach 3, three times the speed of sound .
The SR-72 should run at speeds up to Mach 6. And, although the hypersonic SR-72 is not operational until 2030, the company plans to develop a platform of this magnitude to change the game.
"This could forever change our ability to deter and respond to conflict, allowing fighters to react quickly to threats before the adversary has time to react," said Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson. About the hypersonic aircraft in March.
Hewson also said that the $ 1 billion development of the aircraft will change the "definition of airpower by providing the United States with significant tactical and strategic advantages".
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