Boom Supersonic, the company building the world's fastest airliner, today announced the launch of its Defense Advisory Group to assess Boom's Overture aircraft for national security missions. The independent council brings together top military and defense experts to progress the development of defense variants of Overture. Overture is the sustainable supersonic aircraft that will fly at twice the speed of today's airliners with a max range of 4,250 nautical miles, offering a unique combination of speed, payload, space and power.

Boom named seven founding members ranging from retired General Officers to Department of Defense civilian senior executives with expertise in mobility operations, executive airlift, Air Force acquisitions, and research and development within the defense community. The Defense Advisory Group founding members include:

General William M. Fraser III, USAF (Retired), former Commander of U.S. Transportation Command, Air Combat Command, and USAF Vice Chief of Staff

General Raymond E. Johns, USAF (Retired), former Commander of U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command

General Carlton (Dewey) Everhart II, USAF (Retired), former Commander of U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command

Lieutenant General Ted Bowlds, USAF (Retired), former Commander Electronic Systems Command

Mr. David E. Hamilton, Retired Senior Executive Service, former Director and Program Executive Officer for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office

Major General Lawrence M. Martin, Jr., USAF (Retired), former Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force, International Affairs

Major General Kyle Kremer, USAF (Retired), former Director of Strategy, Plans, Requirements and Programs for Air Mobility Command

“The experienced leaders joining the Defense Advisory Group will guide us in optimizing our aircraft for government customers,” said Kathy Savitt, president of Boom Supersonic. “We know that we can deliver a valuable product to the Department of Defense with a specialized variant of Overture.”

Continuing Boom's progress in the defense market and building upon their collaboration with leading global aerospace and defense technology company Northrop Grumman, the Defense Advisory Group will identify the most valuable and critical use cases for supersonic transport.

“Overture has great potential to provide value to the Department of Defense. The advisory group brings decades of experience to the table to discuss considerations that will enable applications to a broad spectrum of military missions,” said Retired General Raymond Johns. “I look forward to continued collaboration with Boom as we determine how to best optimize Overture to serve the unique needs of the United States government and our allies around the world.”

In addition to the development of a special mission variant of Overture, Boom announced in July that it will support Northrop Grumman on a NASA contract to deliver solutions for the High-Speed Endo-atmospheric Commercial Vehicle Conceptual Design Study and Technology Roadmaps Development program. The study for future research and development will identify technologies to continue the advancement of commercial supersonic flight efficiency.

At the Paris Air Show in July, Boom announced Overture program advances including structural supplier agreements with Aernnova for Overture's wings, Leonardo for the fuselage and wing box, and Aciturri for the empennage. Boom also shared several program milestones for Symphony™, the propulsion system for Overture, including an expansion of Boom's partnership with Florida Turbine Technologies (FTT), a business unit of Kratos, to assemble the initial production unit for ground test, flight test, and certification.