Boom‘s Overture Goes Military with Northrup Grumman

Colorado-based Boom showed a Northrup Grumman co-branded rendering that includes refinements to the airliner it calls Overture. In a nice way, the Overture smacks of the legendary Convair B-58 Hustler, thanks to its modified delta wing over four cigar-shape "medium-bypass" turbojet engines on pylons, and a carefully "area-ruled" fuselage. Speaking of the wing, Boom officially calls it a gull wing, "sculpted to enhance supersonic performance [and] improve subsonic and transonic handling." Unlike the Hustler, the Overture features a separate horizontal stabilizer.

According to the developer, the Overture will be a Mach 1.7-capable airliner with capacity of 65-80 seats, and Boom's partnership with Northrup Grumman allows the potential construction of "special mission variants" for military or other government use. Quotes by Boom and Northrup Grumman execs were deliberately broad in scope about the role a military-variant Overture might play, but we can't help being excited by the idea of an SST version of Air Force One.

Boom is placing a high emphasis on sustainability for the Overture concept, including plans to operate on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from the very beginning, and a materials plan that covers post-lifecycle recycling.