Comment by SideburnsOfDoom
13 hours ago
> I hope this doesn't begin a string of hype-creep that causes their actual goal to fail.
IDK, the first sign to me that Boom weren't likely to succeed was when Rolls Royce parted ways on engine development (1). Were the engines not technically feasible? Not economically feasible? Didn't believe in Boom's business model? We don't know Rolls Royce's thinking, but it's a vote of no confidence.
Taking it in house seemed like a last resort - designing "a new engine in a new airframe" is a known risk. A homebrew engine can't be benefit.
They don't even have the engine: Re-purposing the hypothetical jet engines as hypothetical LLM power plants seems like a nosedive, really.
https://www.space.com/boom-supersonic-rolls-royce-engine-spl...
I'd assume it was because Boom wanted more collaboration and offered less margins than the current customers of DoD super secret planes. Why work harder, longer hours on someone else's idea for less money?
Possible, but I would not assume anything. It's also possible that what they need to make the aircraft work just isn't practical.