Boom Supersonic CEO says US beating China in supersonic jet aircraft
Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl on China unveiling their new supersonic jet, U.S. regulation impacting the industry, the benefits of faster flight and whether the next Air Force One could be upgraded.
America currently remains ahead of China when it comes to airplanes that can fly faster than the speed of sound, according to Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl.
“I think aviation has always been seen as a symbol of technological superiority,” Scholl said Tuesday during a “Mornings with Maria” appearance. “Just like the chip, the airplane was invented in America, and China wants to surpass America as a leader in technology, so of course, they’re pursuing supersonic. It is the next step in aviation.”
Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl poses with a model of the XB-1, the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet aircraft, during the Farnborough International Airshow 2024 at Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference C (John Keeble/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The South China Morning Post reported over the weekend that the Chinese state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) is working on a supersonic jet called the C949.
BOOM SUPERSONIC SAYS XB-1 AIRCRAFT FLEW OVER MACH 1 WITH NO AUDIBLE SONIC BOOM ON THE GROUND BELOW
The aircraft, detailed in blueprints in a recent academic paper, is meant to reach Mach 1.6 and have a barely audible sonic boom when the project comes to fruition, according to the outlet. The jet design is reportedly supposed to have a range 50% longer than the Concorde.
Comac has previously said it wants to bring the supersonic C949 to market by 2049, the South China Morning Post reported.
Scholl told host Maria Bartiromo that the “good news” is that right now, the U.S. is “ahead” of China in supersonic jets.
“We’ve got the only operational, non-military supersonic jet in the world,” he said. “That’s the XB-1 prototype. We’ve demonstrated we can do it without a sonic boom.”
Scholl’s company, Boom Supersonic, is the Denver-based firm behind the XB-1.
Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator aircraft broke the sound barrier for its first time ever in late January. During that highly-anticipated test flight, the jet went above Mach 1 several times “without generating a sonic boom that reached the ground,” the company said.
Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 aircraft during a test flight. (Boom Supersonic / Fox News)
Scholl went on to tell Bartiromo that the “problem is right now” that the U.S. is “in our own way with outloaded regulations.”
According to the Federal Aviation Administration website, U.S. regulations bar civilian flights from exceeding Mach 1 while traveling over land in America.
“From the 1970s, we have a ban on fast flights in the U.S.,” he explained. “It’s really ridiculous. It should have been a ban on sonic booms, or at least bad sonic booms, but instead, that regulation’s been on the books for more than 50 years, and it’s prevented U.S. companies…
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