Carbon-fibre Boom Supersonic XB-1 Close to Supersonic – Tu-144 Replacement to Be

Boom Supersonic has completed the eleventh flight of its innovative XB-1 demonstrator. This time plane managed to get very close to the supersonic speed barrier. None of his "classmates" managed to do this.


The main advantage of the XB-1 from Boom Supersonic is the use of carbon fiber in the airframe design. This solution allows the aircraft to be lighter.

Of course, for a demonstrator this is not very important, but for airliners it is more than relevant. A significant reduction in weight is an opportunity to take on board more passengers or fuel. The main thing is that this does not come at the expense of strength.


This is what makes the Boom Supersonic XB-1 unique. The manufacturer claims that when the demonstrator achieves its goals and its design goes into production, it will revolutionize high-speed passenger air travel.

The eleventh flight was piloted by experienced test pilot Tristan Brandenburg. The pilot stayed in the air for 44 minutes. He managed to accelerate the XB-1 to a speed of 0,95 Mach.

The main objective of the flight was achieved – in the process it was possible to verify the strength of the carbon fiber structure of the glider. And it is in these parameters that the demonstrator from Boom Supersonic surpassed the Tu-144 and Concorde.

Not in speed, of course. After all, the Tu-144, for example, reached a speed of Mach 2. But in its class, the XB-1 is the undisputed leader. No other model with a carbon fiber airframe has ever managed to get so close to the supersonic barrier.

These airliners were not built using composite materials, so they were too expensive to operate. And that was the main reason they were taken out of production, no matter what was said about their unreliability and lack of development.

All the data obtained during the test flights of the Boom Supersonic XB-1 demonstrator will be used in the design of a new supersonic passenger airliner. We are talking about Overture.


The latest flight was not without its incidents. First, when the demonstrator reached a speed of 0,95 Mach, it had problems with the GPS and radar systems. These will need to be sorted out before the XB-1 is cleared for the next test.

The second nuance is that a large bird crashed into the plane, damaging the augmented reality system. It also needs to be repaired before the next flight.

It is encouraging that the XB-1 project from Boom Supersonic is developing steadily and moving towards its logical conclusion. After all, the company was founded back in 2014, and the first flight of the demonstrator was postponed for several years in a row.