It's interesting... you'd think the military would have gone down this path already, and perhaps came up short?
The ability to fly supersonic NOE (Nap-of-the-Earth) into enemy territory without leaving a trail of very loud sonic booms seems like it would be something of interest. B1-B Lancer's exist to do exactly this, but are quite noisy.
Which either means I'm wrong and the military doesn't care about being quiet, or Boom will eventually reach the same conclusion... or Boom has something truly revolutionary that nobody else has achieved.
> The ability to fly supersonic NOE (Nap-of-the-Earth) into enemy territory without leaving a trail of very loud sonic booms seems like it would be something of interest. B1-B Lancer's exist to do exactly this, but are quite noisy.
Wikipedia claims B-1B max speed at low altitude is Mach 0.96. High speed flight at low altitude consumes fuel like crazy due to the high density atmosphere.
likely the same answer as to why the SR-71 is discontinued - advances in satellite reconnaissance and UAV technology made it irrelevant.
What advantage exactly does a B-1B have over a cruise missile? What advantage does it have over some UAVs sent on an autonomous mission? Bearing in mind that you can easily fire off a couple dozen cruise missiles just for the airframe cost of a B-1 let alone the training, etc.
A manned pilot is some better in some respects, but is it enough better to justify the additional cost, training, and the downsides that come along with a manned mission (political risk, etc)?
For certain missions, the B-2 and the B-52 etc have their merits, and close-air-support with a UAV in non-permissive airspace seems like a bad idea. But by and large the trend has been and continues to be using unmanned and expendable platforms to replace a lot of roles. The B-1 doesn't do anything that a cruise missile really cannot replace.
I'm not so sure. Airplanes are hard to keep secret when they're flying around, and existing planes have their capabilities pretty well figured out by now. It's not every day a new airframe is built.
I'd expect the $100MM USD F-35 to have all the latest tech, being the newest fighter available.
the military doesn't need to. they can boom as needed. most training is subsonic and during combat they aren't going to care if someone complains about the boom.
(Big fat disclaimer: I don’t understand anything I’m about to say)
Wouldn’t the windows be broken _behind_ the plane? In my mental model, you’re flying below radar so anyone on the ground will know you’re there anyway. If you’re sub-sonic people hear/see the plane and you hope they don’t have time to do anything before you strike. If you’re supersonic they hear/see the plane, their windows break, and you hope they don’t have time to do anything before you strike.
You would leave a long trail of broken windows and reports from the moment you went supersonic in their territory, charting your trajectory. Threat detection is a network, not a single point.
However, if you're moving fast enough and the target is close enough, your premise is valid. They would not have time to react. Cruise missiles tend to be used for those mission profiles.
if the enemy knows you’re there but doesn’t know exactly where then it’s a huge benefit to get in and out as quickly as possible. it’s also a huge advantage if the enemy is moving fast and you know where he is, but you don’t want them to know that you’re coming at them.
If you are below the radar you are still visible and detectable. If they have any reason to suspect you are coming they can send people outside to look, you are low enough to be easy to see. Give that person training with a gun and you can be shot down. (speed makes it harder, but it also means the pilot does in the crash before having time to realize anything is wrong)
The ability to fly supersonic NOE (Nap-of-the-Earth) into enemy territory without leaving a trail of very loud sonic booms seems like it would be something of interest. B1-B Lancer's exist to do exactly this, but are quite noisy.
Which either means I'm wrong and the military doesn't care about being quiet, or Boom will eventually reach the same conclusion... or Boom has something truly revolutionary that nobody else has achieved.