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Comment by ARandomerDude | Hacker News Reader

Many have questioned the sanity of those investing in Boom, and from a commercial standpoint I agree. Every time I see the XB-1 I think the real hope is a military purchase, given the XB-1's design choices.

Thus far it looks similar to an upgraded T-38 to me. The XB-1 and T-38 are similar (ish) sizes, have roughly the same takeoff weight, both use the very old/proven J85 engines, etc.

If Boom can pull off the Mach 2+ supercruise concept for this demonstrator, they might well secure a spot as a low cost 5th gen fighter trainer with good export potential as a cheap fighter/recon platform.

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> the real hope is a military purchase

This has been explicit for at least 2 years [1]. It’s why I think their idea of an airliner (and in-house dry super-cruise engine) isn’t just vapourware.

[1] https://aviationweek.com/shownews/farnborough-airshow/boom-u...

It isn't just vapor-ware because the company is going to get acquired by the military? Or the military is going to place an order for jets? Why does that help make it not vapor-ware?

> company is going to get acquired by the military?

When has the U.S. military ever acquired a contractor?

> Why does that help make it not vapor-ware?

The military has money. There is obvious strategic value in a second supercruise turbofan, particularly one optimised for high thrust and efficiency.

SpaceX, Boeing, Northrop, Lockheed are all owned by the US government. The government just allows the american public to invest in these companies.

Fighter trainer and supersonic passenger jet are very different niches. Fighter trainers have to be maneuverable and going supersonic is small part of their job. There are subsonic jet trainers, and most don't go that fast. Supersonic passenger jet needs to go faster for a long time in a straight line.

Not sure if a fighter jet is easy to make, even countries like South Korea have taken two decades to produce the 4.5 generation fighter jet and they still can't build their own jet engines, and the KF-21 is still on block 1.

Avionics and radar seems to be very expensive and where fighter jet manufacturers can make their own to capture the margins but I'm questioning whether a founder with no aerospace experience is able to produce military jets with even more stringent regulation than supersonic flights

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