Lockheed Skunk Works/SAI Quiet Supersonic Transport (QSST)

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QSST ADVANTAGES

QSST integrates state-of-the-art technologies to revolutionize business, commercial and passenger air transport. Lockheed Martin’s ’Skunk Works®’ designed QSST. QSST is the only jet that incorporates patented breakthrough aerodynamic innovations to make it possible to fly supersonic over populated continental areas. QSST’s design is feasible and should receive timely certification approval from U.S. and international aviation authorities.

Lockheed Martin comprises the best aircraft design team in the world, with 50+ years of experience in aircraft design and production, specifically supersonic aircraft. SAI’s design is grounded in Lockheed Martin’s unquestioned abilities in systems engineering and institutional aviation design. QSST draws on the legendary history and unequaled record of accomplishment of Lockheed Martin’s ’Skunk Works’, Jetstar, one of the first business jets developed, was designed by ’Skunk Works’ and is still in use today. ’Skunk Works’ has also designed such legendary aircraft as the SR-71 "Blackbird," and breakthrough aircraft as the F-117 Stealth Fighter, the F/A-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce, the three leading international engine manufacturers, have proposed competing "state-of-the-art" engine design concepts that meet QSST performance, sound and emissions requirements. The engine design concepts will allow QSST to cruise at supersonic speeds without afterburning engines. All three engine companies promise high reliability and long core life even with the demands of sustained supersonic air flight.

QSST promises dramatic reductions in travel time that will enable businesses, entrepreneurs, medical personnel and government/military leadership a quantum leap in productivity that will allow leaders to position personnel and equipment rapidly around the world in order to respond to global opportunities and time-sensitive situations.

QSST’s Clear Advantage Results From Our Ability to...

• Be the first to market a truly global supersonic aircraft
• Exploit and create global markets
• Uniquely be capable of quiet supersonic flight over land
• Revolutionize air travel by cutting travel time in half
• Produce range and performance statistics compatible with market demands
• Meet all current and forecast regulatory requirements
• Operate safely and reliably

Source:
http://web.archive.org/web/20061030135750/http://www.saiqsst.com/advantages.html

 

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QSST TECHNOLOGY

QSST utilizes innovative aerodynamic shaping and employs a patented, inverted "V-tail" - all instrumental in the radical reduction of QSST’s sonic sound level. Only QSST will fly at twice the speed of current business jets with a barely noticeable sonic signature - less than 1/100th that of the Concorde. QSST will be in full compliance with present and future sound and emission rules. QSST was designed with full recognition and understanding of the many programmatic and technical complexities that affect supersonic aircraft.

QSST’s engine will further enhance its superior design. The engine will be selected from one of the top three international engine manufacturers - General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, or Rolls-Royce. These three companies have proposed engine design concepts for QSST that will be state-of-the-art and designed to meet/exceed the latest emission standards. Each design concept employs a variety of techniques to suppress takeoff and landing sounds while operating at supersonic speeds with maximum combustion efficiency to minimize emissions. Most important, each engine will provide exceptional reliability and performance to meet the requirements for our aircraft and customers.

SAI and Lockheed Martin have designed a high performance supersonic jet while maintaining the highest levels of dispatch availability, operating reliability, and regulatory compliance. Over 40 engineers, designers and technologists on the team at ’Skunk Works®’ have overcome significant engineering challenges to develop an aircraft that can be built with proven, reliable techniques without having to use exotic materials or manufacturing technologies.

In addition to ’Skunk Works’, SAI has teamed with notable aviation consultants Clay Lacy and Bob Cooper in creating this environmentally sound, pilot-friendly, passenger aircraft. QSST fulfills and integrates decades of international accomplishment in advanced aerospace design, and will forever transform how the world views and utilizes air travel.

A Few Technical Notes:

• Advanced cockpit design affords excellent natural pilot field-of-view
• Innovative enhanced vision system improves over-the-nose field-of-view beyond current FAA requirements
• Engine/Airframe combination is optimized for low-drag, long-range supersonic cruise as well as for quiet takeoffs and landings
• QSST’s airframe incorporates conventional metallic and composite materials

Source:
http://web.archive.org/web/20061030135734/http://www.saiqsst.com/technology.html

 

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QSST AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

QSST was designed to meet, or exceed, all current and anticipated FAA aircraft certification sound and environmental standards. QSST’s sonic signature is less than 1/100th that of the Concorde - or a sound level between the interior of a car at 70 miles per hour and normal talking levels. The QSST is environmentally friendly and designed not to make sound objectionable to those on the ground below.

QUICK SOUND AND EMISSION FACTS:

LOW SOUND LEVEL:

QSST’s quiet, non-afterburning engines will permit takeoffs and landing in compliance with future FAR Pt. 36 Stage 4 sound standards.

LOW EMISSIONS:

QSST’s advanced technology and clean burning engines are designed to minimize emissions during high-altitude cruise and meet stringent FAR Part 34 emissions limitations near airports.

Source:
http://web.archive.org/web/20061030084900/http://www.saiqsst.com/environment.html

 

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Supersonic Aerospace International To Revolutionize Air Travel
First-Ever Supersonic Jet to Include
Innovative Sonic Boom Suppression Technology

LAS VEGAS, October 12, 2004 - Revolutionizing modern business travel by removing the greatest obstacle in supersonic travel, a group of aviators, investors, designers and production engineers, with a proven record of success, has tackled the once thought unreachable challenge of suppressing sonic boom, and has designed a jet that will cut by half the travel time between many long-distance destinations.

After three and one-half years of work, Supersonic Aerospace International (SAI) today revealed that it has successfully confirmed the design for the Quiet Supersonic Transport (QSST) which will facilitate transcontinental and intercontinental supersonic travel. The QSST will be able to comply with or exceed all applicable environmental standards and FAA rules for takeoff and landing noise.

Unlike any other jet ever built, the QSST uses innovative aerodynamic shaping and employs a patented inverted V-tail, allowing the aircraft to achieve unprecedented levels of sonic boom suppression – even when flying at least twice the speed of current civil aircraft. Advanced integrated design features reduce sonic boom level to less than 1/100 that of the Concorde. The QSST program has been managed by J. Michael Paulson, son of leading aerospace pioneer Allen Paulson, using funds Allen Paulson left in trust for this project. The QSST is the only jet with a patented design to produce an aerodynamically shaped sonic boom signature making it possible to secure legal permission to fly supersonic over populated land areas throughout the world.

“The QSST is a giant leap in speed, productivity, and comfort. It will define the future of business, commercial and government travel in the 21st Century,” said J. Michael Paulson. “Cruising at supersonic speeds for over 4,000 nautical miles, this revolutionary aircraft will transport 12 passengers to many global destinations in one-half the travel time. Operating from ordinary worldwide runways, it will travel at speeds of Mach 1.6 and 1.8 with the reliability and passenger comfort that the aerospace, commercial and business communities have come to expect.”

SAI’s successful design of the QSST was achieved by placing Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works under contract to develop the aircraft design. Lockheed Martin has over 50-years of experience designing and producing innovative high-altitude, high-speed aircraft.

“The design team has overcome significant engineering challenges to design an aircraft incorporating advanced supersonic cruise and breakthrough sonic boom suppression technologies that allow it to cruise efficiently and quietly over long ranges. It will offer comfort, reliability and safety. Our sonic boom mitigation techniques have been validated through extensive tests and analysis,” said J. Michael Paulson.

General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls-Royce have provided original, competing engine concepts for possible placement in the QSST. Applying the latest engine technologies all three companies have developed engine concepts that provide highly efficient cruise while retaining quiet airport operations that meet or exceed current and future noise regulations. The latest emissions reduction technologies ensure that QSST satisfies all environment concerns – worldwide.

About Supersonic Aerospace International, LLC (SAI)

SAI was founded by J. Michael Paulson in 2001 for the Allen E. Paulson Living Trust to carry on the vision of his father, Allen Paulson, legendary aviation pioneer. SAI provided funding for Lockheed Martin Skunk Works’ Phase 1 efforts to assess the feasibility of bringing QSST to market and is now leading the drive to bring QSST to reality.

Source:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080222222835/http://www.saiqsst.com/press.html

 

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The QSST's swept wings, forward canards and tail all generate lift, eliminating the need for a larger main wing that would produce sharper pressure spikes.

Source:
http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/gallery/2007-02/all-sonic-no-boom?image=3


Careful aerodynamic shaping stretches the pressure wave that causes sonic booms along the length of the aircraft, effectively converting the loud double bang into a more muffled poof.

Source:
http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/gallery/2007-02/all-sonic-no-boom?image=4


Sonic booms happen when pressure builds up too fast around wings and engines. In a conventional boom, the pressure migrates forward and backward. That movement generates two pressure spikes at the front and rear, creating a classic
N-shaped-wave [1], and the result is a loud double bang.

Source:
http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/gallery/2007-02/all-sonic-no-boom?image=5


To soften the boom, QSST aerodynamicists sought to spread out the pressure points along the fuselage. The new aircraft [above] generates only moderate shocks at the nose [2] and tail [3] with no spike in the middle. The stretched nose creates a small but distinct pressure spike at the front, as does the rear engine placement. These two small spikes counter the tendency of the wave to travel forward and backward. By the time the sound reaches the ground [4], the N-wave has diffused into a barely audible poof.

Source:
http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/gallery/2007-02/all-sonic-no-boom?image=6

 

[Triton]

Artist's impressions of SAI QSST.

Source:
http://www.sg.hu/cikkek/46238/alakot_olt_az_uj_szuperszonikus_utasszallito
http://www.intelligent.lv/lv/read/id:26308/page:5/targ:15273/
http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/gallery/2007-02/all-sonic-no-boom

 

[flateric]

Meantime, sometimes they are back
http://sai-qsstx.com/

 

[blackkite]

Thanks! Very interesting. Cockpit window becomes very small.

 

[MeachamLake]

Looks like Bonhams auctioned off a model of Lockheed’s BrightStar (P-422) QSST late last year (2023).

Bonhams : LOCKHEED MARTIN SKUNK WORKS/SAI P-442 QSST CONTRACTOR'S CONCEPT MODEL. Mixed material on wood base, Dimensional Technologies, c.2003, wingspan 7 1/2 inches, fuselage 15 inches, 8 inches tall,

Mixed material on wood base, Dimensional Technologies, c.2003, wingspan 7 1/2 inches, fuselage 15 inches, 8 inches tall, plaque on base reads: "SAI/Lockheed Martin Quiet Small Supersonic Transport / Model P-442." The SAI Quiet Supersonic Transport (QSST) was a project by Supersonic Aerospace...

www.bonhams.com