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Boom Supersonic Wins Contract
to Develop Concept For Future
Air Force One
Boom Supersonic, a Colorado aerospace startup that’s building the next generation of supersonic passenger jet, says it has been awarded a military contract to develop a concept for a future Air Force One jet built on its Overture aircraft platform.
Boom said the contract will pay for ex- plorations of an Overture designed for the Air Force’s so-called executive transport program, which includes all air travel for the U.S. government’s top leaders in the ex- ecutive branch, including the president and Air Force One.
Boom founder and CEO Blake Scholl said the Overture jet — a scaled prototype of which rolls out next month — will offer the Air Force a unique combination of passenger capacity, speed, and enough space and power to accommodate the requirements of necessary mission systems.
The Overture is proposing to zoom be- tween Seattle and Tokyo in 4 hours and 30 minutes, instead of the usual 8 hours and 30 minutes. A similar trans-Atlantic flight between New York and London could be com- pleted in three hours and 30 minutes in- stead of 6 plus hours, says the company, which has so far raised over $160 million.
Arizona Start-up Lucid Unveils Air Sedan To Take On Tesla
Electric vehicle start-up Lucid just un- veiled its first production vehicle, the Air sedan.
The company is touting the car as a faster, more efficient and spacious vehicle than the Tesla Model S.
The Lucid Air is expected to be in produc- tion early next year at the company’s plant in Casa Grande, Arizona.
Lucid also teased its next vehicle in de- velopment, a crossover-SUV tentatively named “Gravity.”
The company is touting its all-electric Air sedan as a more efficient, faster and spacious vehicle than the Tesla Model S, a car the company’s CEO Peter Rawlinson helped develop.
MagniX Teams Up With Univer-
sal Hydrogen For Electric Air-
plane Conversion Project
Redmond, Washington -based MagniX says it’s partnering with a Los Angeles startup called Universal Hydrogen to retrofit 40-passenger regional aircraft with carbon-free, hydrogen- fueled electric powertrains.
The partnership opens up a new frontier for MagniX, which is already involved in flight tests for all-electric versions of smaller airplanes such as the de Havilland Beaver and the Cessna Grand Caravan.
This time, MagniX and Universal Hydrogen aim to transform the de Havilland Canada DHC8-Q300, better known as the Dash 8. The Dash 8 is a time-honored twin turboprop tra- ditionally used for commercial regional air service. If the project succeeds, the lessons learned can be applied for the development of retrofit conversion kits for the wider ATR 42 family of aircraft.
Universal Hydrogen’s plan for the Dash 8 calls for MagniX to provide an electric pro- pulsion system in the 2-megawatt class for each wing, powered by hydrogen fuel cells. MagniX has previously developed electric airplane motors in the range of 280 to 560 kilowatts.
Raytheon Hiring More than 300
Workers in El Segundo
Raytheon Intelligence & Space is looking to hire more than 300 people at its El Se- gundo, Ca. facility for roles that address cybersecurity, hardware and systems design and engineering.
Wallis Laughrey, vice president of Ray- theon’s Space & C2 Systems, said the jobs require a high level of expertise.
“We have seen continued demand from our customers throughout 2020,” Laughrey said via email. “Because of this, we’re looking for qualified and driven professionals with a proven track record of working on innovative projects to fill the growing need.”
Raytheon’s 16-building El Segundo campus, which employs some 6,000 people, is involved in a variety of products including radar systems, sensors and electronic warfare technologies.
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CNC WEST October/November 2020