SonicBlue Aerospace

SonicBlue Aerospace, Inc. (“SonicBlue”), is an aerospace and defense company focused on the development and commercialization of vertical take-off and landing, transonic and supersonic aircraft, for flight across all environments now accessible to aircraft. SonicBlue has developed technologies and intellectual property in new hybrid jet/electric vertical take-off and landing propulsion systems, energy generation, high-speed aerodynamics, advanced composite structures and related technologies.

The hybrid propulsion system incorporates existing gas turbine powerplant technology engineered to provide integrated high power electric generation for vertical lift, and converts to vectored jet thrust for high-speed horizontal flight, allowing the aircraft to achieve the best of both worlds in point-to-point jet travel at supersonic speeds. The capability of both high speed flight and all terrain operation is a combination never before present in a production aircraft, and will enable civilian and military customers to satisfy needs that no other aircraft has been ever able to address.

The SonicBlue has management and technical design teams based in Maine and Southern California. In addition SonicBlue has supporting engineering groups in Langley, Va., and Great Britain specializing in VTOL, advanced computational aerodynamics, supersonic aerodynamics, simulation and integrated design optimization; Boston, Mass., specializing in high power energy generation, electromagnetic, power and thermal management; and Arlington, Va., specializing in powered lift systems, engineering, design, optimization and integration.

SonicBlue Aerospace has a four-year phased development for it’s VTOL Unmanned Combat Hybrid Armed Vehicle (UCHAV) military program, the first of its kind to provide an integrated high-speed hybrid propulsion and directed energy weapons platform UAV system.

The company comes to market with it’s six-to-eight-seat supersonic, VTOL hybrid business jet in a five-year phased development program, with first flight in 2010, and in-flight service as early as 2014.

Source and more info at: http://www.sonicblueaerospace.com/

Pics: Sceptre (2 pax), Stiletto (6-8 pax), and the UCAV “Fusion”