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Boom Supersonic To Lead Jet Engine Development For Its Superfast Airliner

Boom Supersonic is leading engine development itself for the supersonic airliners it’s creating for international travel, unveiling a trio of industry partners for the effort last month.

The Centennial-based startup will design supersonic engines optimized to run on sustainable aviation fuel, tapping design partner Florida Turbine Technologies, a division of Kratos, a Jupiter, Florida-based aerospace and defense contractor that makes high-performance missile and drone engines. Boom Supersonic is using GE Additive for prototyping and design help with an eye toward maximizing the use of light, 3D-printed engine parts. It also hired StandardAero to be its engine maintenance partner.

Boom Supersonic will lead the design and own the intellectual property for its engine, which the company has named Symphony.

It’s unusual for an airline manufacturer to design and build engines and a departure from the typical industry business model.“Boom will own the engine and we staff the teams to design it, operate it and maintain it,” said Blake Scholl, CEO and founder of Boom Supersonic. “We have the opportunity to change the game.”

The company’s announcement comes three months after a design partnership with engine maker Rolls Royce finished. Other major passenger jet engine companies weren’t brought in either, making it a mystery who Boom would tap for the essential part of their Overture aircraft.

The FTT team has experience helping design parts of supersonic engines of F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, and its parent company makes engines for other uses. Involving the 3D printing until of GE, a conglomerate that pioneered composite airplane engine fans, brings on an experienced partner in manufacturing for Federal Aviation Administration certification, Scholl said.

Boom Supersonic projects its Overture aircraft, designed to carry between 65 and 80 passengers on international routes, will be able to fly Mach 1.7 over water and just under Mach 1 over land. That would mean flying twice as fast as typical passenger jets today.

Boom Supersonic says making international flights so much faster will change the nature of travel. The company is pledging to make its planes fly on sustainable aviation fuel as a way to minimize the environmental impacts of flights using its planes.

The aircraft has attracted order contracts from American Airlines, United Airlines and Japan Airlines as well as interest from others.

United and Boom Supersonic share a vision in improving international travel, said Mike Leskinen, president of United Airlines Ventures, in a statement released as part of the Boom engine announcement.

“The team at Boom understands what we need to create a compelling experience for our passengers, and we are looking forward to a United supersonic fleet powered by Symphony,” Leskinen said.

Boom Supersonic unveiled new designs for the planes earlier this year. The biggest question outstanding for them was who would build the engines.

Key lessons from Boom Supersonic’s work with Rolls Royce included two realizations, Scholl said. Optimizing traditional subsonic engine parts for supersonic flight wouldn’t result in the best engine design, and owning the Symphony engine would change the economics of the aircraft for both Boom Supersonic and its customers.

Vertically integrated production of the main aircraft components mimics the route taken by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and other companies changing the space industry, he said.

“Given we’re making a leap here, it’s not surprising,” he said.

The traditional airliner engine industry involves designing and developing engines that aircraft manufacturers essentially buy at cost, but then the engine makers achieve long-term profits through regular maintenance programs.

That model doesn’t benefit the aircraft manufacturer, airlines or flying passengers — with each engine adding $1,000 of operational costs per flight, Scholl said. He likened the system to selling razors, a business for which the profit comes from the replacement blades.

The Symphony engine’s design should increase the time between necessary maintenance by 25%, School said, and having Boom Supersonic maintaining the engines should reduce the planes’ operating costs by 10%, which would be significant for airlines. By Greg Avery –

Senior Reporter, Denver Business Journal

Department of Defense (DoD) Awards

Vectrus Systems Corp., Colorado Springs, Colorado, is awarded a $48,888,974 firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract N69450-22-D-0010 for base operations support services at Na-val Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This award brings the total cumula-tive value of the contract to $96,754,647. The contract modification is for a 12-month bridge extension of base operations support services under the basic contract. Work will be performed at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and will be completed by November 2023. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2023 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds; fiscal 2023 Defense Health Program funds; fiscal 2023 operation and maintenance (Army) funds; and fiscal 2023 operation and maintenance (Department of Defense) funds in the amount of $40,340,904 for recurring work will be obligated on a sub-sequent task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Com-mand Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity.

Richard Manufacturing Co., Ogden, Utah (FA8232-23-D-0002); Inter-connect Wiring LLP, Fort Worth, Texas (FA8232-23-D-0003); Chero-kee Nation Aerospace and Defense LLC, Stilwell, Oklahoma (FA8232-23-D-0004); Parts Life Inc., Moorestown, New Jersey (FA8232-23-D-0005); and KIHOMAC, Inc, Reston, Virginia (FA823223-D-0006), have collectively been awarded a $900,000,000 firmfixed-price, mul-tiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for F-16 harness parts and kit assemblies. This contract provides for low-cost and rapid delivery of diverse harness parts and kits for the F-16 fleet to include all Block aircraft. Work will be performed in Ogden, Utah; Fort Worth, Texas; Stilwell, Oklahoma; Moorestown, New Jersey; and Reston, Virginia, and is expected to be completed May 31, 2031. Fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $18,832; fiscal 2021 procurement funds in the amount of $357,500; and fiscal 2022 procurement funds in the amount of $111,642 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cy-cle Management Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity.

Boeing Digital Solutions Inc., Englewood, Colorado, is awarded an $18,919,575 firmfixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinitequantity contract. This contract procures annual navigation database software subscriptions with monthly updates to calculate aircraft performance. This software includes MilPlanner, FliteDeck Pro, On-board Perfor-mance Tool (OPT) database, OPT software, and Aeronautical Radio, In-corporated 424 navigational database tools. Work will be performed in Englewood, Colorado, and is expected to be completed in December 2027.

No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are is sued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lake-hurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N6833523D0008).

Lockheed Martin Corp., Littleton, Colorado, has been awarded a $16,749,836 firm-fixed-price modification (P00043) to previously awarded contract FA882321-C-0001 for Space Based Infrared System contractor logistics support and product support integration contract evolution. Work will be performed on Peterson Space Force Base, Buckley SFB, Greeley Air National Guard Station, and Boulder, Colorado, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 14, 2024. Fiscal 2022 procurement funds in the amount of $16,749,836 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $1,090,509,030. Space Systems Command, Peterson SFB, Colorado, is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., Hill Air Force Base, Utah, has been awarded a $15,511,239 C-Type contract for the Performance Assessment Data System (PADS) Communication Equipment Interface Unit (CEIU) production and deployment. This contract supports the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile for PADS to collect weapon system assessment data from CEIU and report