![]() Passenger Blended Wing Body (BWB) Aircraft Maybe the next generation of supersonic airliners will arrive before the turn of the decade. However, all is not lost for a US-built supersonic passenger aircraft, as Boom Supersonic presses on with its Overture program, recently announcing critical supplier and engine details at this year’s Paris Air Show. Alas, within a decade, funding for the supersonic transporter was cut, and Concorde would be introduced later in the mid-1970s. Notably, the Lockheed L-2000 and Boeing 2707 went head to head for a government contract in the 1960s, with Boeing coming out on top. On the lines of commercial aircraft, multiple manufacturers from the United States sought to design a product similar to the European-built Concorde. However, in 1954, General Electric put a nuclear-powered engine to the test for over 100 hours under the idea that the energy (heat) created by the reaction could generate thrust, keeping an aircraft in the skies for days to weeks. Very similarly, test flights did take place, though not with the nuclear reactor powering the aircraft. The Russian version of this was the Tupolev Tu-95LAL, an experimental modified Tu-95 strategic bomber. Convair once produced an example of the NB-36H, featuring a shielded nuclear reactor though not connected to the engines, as an experiment to see if such a feat was safe. US and Russian programs to develop aircraft with reactors onboard were once conceptualized, though never particularly materialized. Submarines are notable for their ability to stay underwater for long periods of time, thanks in part to nuclear power.
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