The American company Aerion announced the closure of the project of the supersonic passenger aircraft AS2 and the termination of work. According to Flightglobal, the reason for the closure of the project was a lack of funding. According to the company, the current economic situation and financial situation of Aerion do not allow to complete the AS2 project and start mass production of aircraft.
Aerion has been developing the AS2 passenger aircraft since 2014. According to preliminary calculations, the length of the aircraft was supposed to be 51.8 meters, height-6.7 meters, and wingspan-18.6 meters. The maximum take-off weight of the supersonic aircraft was to be 54.8 tons. AS2 was planned to be equipped with three engines, the thrust of each of which, according to the developers, should have been at least 69 kilonewtons.
The aircraft was designed to carry up to 12 passengers. It was planned that the AS2 would be able to fly over water at a cruising speed of Mach 1.4-1.6, slowing down to 1.2 over land. A slightly lower speed of flight over land, coupled with a special aerodynamic design of the glider, would allow, as the developers hoped, almost completely avoid the formation of shock waves.
The range of the aircraft at a speed of Mach 1.4 was supposed to be 7.8 thousand kilometers and 10 thousand kilometers at a speed of Mach 0.95. Over the entire period of the AS2 project, Aerion has received applications for supersonic aircraft worth a total of $ 11.2 billion. In particular, NetJets and Flexjet announced their intention to buy 20 supersonic aircraft each.
Financial participation in the AS2 project was taken by the American company Boeing. In addition, several other firms were involved in the project, including BAE Systems, Collins, GKN, Honeywell, Safran, Spirit AeroSystems and Universal Avionics. The first flight of the AS2 was planned for 2024, and the beginning of commercial operation — in 2026.
The development of passenger supersonic aircraft continues to lead other companies, including the American Lockheed Martin, Boom Supersonic and Virgin Galactic . Also, the concept of such an aircraft is being developed in Russia.
Vasily Sychev
