Japan to build Supersonic Plane for Passengers

3 years ago

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA) has announced that it is working with several Japanese companies to develop a new supersonic passenger plane.

In addition to JAXA, Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, Subaru and IHI will also be involved in the development of the next generation supersonic planes. Furthermore, Japan Aerospace Exploration Association (JADC) and the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies (SJAC) will also participate in the development process.

According to JAXA, the model will be capable of carrying 36-50 passengers at MACH 1.6 speeds. It is comparable to the Concorden, a model plane that was retired nearly 20 years ago that could carry 100 passengers at a top speed of Mach 2.04.

Since the late 1990s, JAXA has been conducting research on supersonic planes. Among other things, it is said they have developed technology that can reduce noise at the so-called sound barrier by 50 percent compared to Concorde. JAXA and the companies involved should be able to demonstrate the results of the work that is currently underway by 2030.

flightglobal.com^{via msn.com}