NASA and Lockheed Martin‘s [LMT] Skunk Works division on Jan. 12 rolled out the X-59 “quiet” supersonic demonstrator aircraft in Palmdale, Calif.
“The ceremony marked a significant milestone in Lockheed Martin’s and NASA’s decades-long journey to solve one of the most persistent challenges of supersonic flight – the sonic boom,” Lockheed Martin said.
RTX‘s [RTX] Collins Aerospace supplied the X-59’s primary avionics system, including navigation and communications.
The X-59 is part of “NASA’s Quesst mission to provide the FAA with an acceptable noise standard to repeal current regulations that have prohibited supersonic flight over land since 1973,” Lockheed Martin said.
Speakers at the Jan. 12 roll-out included John Clark, vice president and general manager of the Skunk Works, and Dee Dee Myers, who was the spokeswoman for former Pres. Bill Clinton and now works as a senior economic adviser to California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The next steps for the X-59 include the completion of ground tests, “including engine-run and taxi tests before its next major milestone, first flight, later this year,” Lockheed Martin said. “After the aircraft is validated in initial flight tests, it will move into the acoustic testing phase. This phase will include flights over populated areas to provide U.S. and international regulators with statistically valid data required to help approve new rules that could allow quiet commercial supersonic flight over land. This would cut commercial flight times to half of what they are today, transforming travel for people around the world.”