Posted on 04/03/2018 5:46:47 PM PDT by libertylover
NASA has taken a huge leap forward in its quest to create an aircraft that can travel faster than the speed of sound without causing the ear-splitting sonic boom.
The space agency announced today (April 2) that it has awarded the aerospace company Lockheed Martin a $247.5 million contract to design and build a new X-plane, known as the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD), which may soar silently over the U.S. by 2022.
Today's announcement comes less than two weeks after President Donald Trump signed a federal budget for FY2019 that fully funds the LBFD. In his budget proposal, Trump noted that the X-plane "would open a new market for U.S. companies to build faster commercial airliners, creating jobs and cutting cross-country flight times in half."
I guess Boeing is still not paying off politicians to get work anymore.
Lockheed has done such a fantastic job with the F-35 they have earned the right to get more government contracts. /s
I would not let Lockheed build a paper airplane for me. The company has been at the center of graft and failure since after Kelly Johnson. The graft and influence peddling goes on at least as far back as the F-104.
Trump should not let this happen.
LBFD? Lockheed’s Big ____ Deal?
At least its not the LGBTFD!
Lesbian Bi Fag Dyke?
No way it will be under budget and ahead of schedule....sorry Donald....
welcome to NASA’s bureaucracy.
Hear the little piggy squel!
More pork for the MIC.
Not sure whether I'm for this project at all. If they can develop an A/C that's supersonic without the boom, who benefits? The airlines, I suppose. The Air Force doesn't need or want it.
If they can create an aircraft capable of going supersonic without the wake that causes the boom, there’s a huge number of military applications for it. Hypersonic cruise missiles that don’t announce they’ve passed, stealth aircraft and drones that can actually run from conventional interceptors if discovered, military transport aircraft that can speed in and drop troops and equipment at supersonic speed....
My father worked for Lockheed during the mid-late 1950s. Back then you followed the jobs as the various military contracts ran out or were awarded. Of all the companies he worked for Lockheed was at the bottom of his list with Boing/Douglas at the top.
Boing?
That’s how they go when the hit the ground. Boing!
I rest my case. It is a culture problem. Probably the reason Kelly Johnson demanded he be in a separate facility.
Not that Lockheed has not built some great airplanes just that Lockheed is not a great company IMHO.
Worked for Lockheed through the good and bad years. Watched it be bought by Martin. (not a merger as claimed)
However, the company has also changed with the times. They have improved on the corruption — called ethics now. They also have improved the inter working relations between employees. There was definitely a time when engineers withheld critical information seeking to outdo each other. The last time I was there (called back as a consultant because of my history) I found the workplace very productive and the relationship with other engineers refreshingly open and strong.
I understand how one could think about LMT as you do, but I also worked with people at Boeing and found Lockheed engineering to be more innovative and cost conscientious.
Granted this is anecdotal, because I did not really interface with more than a few teams of engineers, but that was my impression. Full disclosure, I am receiving a pension from same — not a big one, but its something after 30 + years.
Oh, and the costly programs always have more than one side. In most cases the government contracting office starts off by being un-realistic. Granted, the contractor’s position is usually optimistic, and nothing wastes money like government FARs (Federal Acquisition Regulations)
I confess to being very jaded and even angry at Lockheed for the F-35 program and how they lobbied against the F-22 funding for a great airplane that they would make a little money on so the F-35, a bad airplane they could make a whole lot more money on, would be funded. The F-35 has been a career duration project. That should never be.
I believe they have behaved unethically. Boeing also did in the tanker contract.
Hard to believe Martin took over Lockheed but I’ll surely take your word for it as I know little of the affair.
We needed a whole lot more F-22s and something other than the F-35. Even the F-15SE would be a great airplane though it does not satisfy the marines silly useless desire for a jump jet and the Navy would need to do something else but might include two engines like they really should have. The avenger might have made a good attack aircraft. The F-15E is one of the best tactical dump trucks ever built and the SE just makes it better.
Better article here
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19869/nasa-awards-contract-to-lockheeds-skunk-works-to-build-manned-quiet-supersonic-x-plane
The new plane is rumored to run on pure money and burn it faster and harder than the Fed can change numbers in a computer!
Project Mission Statement: To lower the boom on our project.
Takes energy to generate a pressure wave (boom). The source of energy is burning fuel, so eliminating the boom also increases range and/or speed. May eliminate need of an afterburner in some applications, often used to overcome the higher drag experienced in transition to super-sonic flight.
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