[OrwellianChild]

One dynamic that may be at play: Designing a new engine is a gamble. For a company who already makes money with existing designs, there may be little upside on a small-volume new product. This is likely the reason the "Big 3" passed on designing an engine they don't have an off-the-shelf option for.

Boom would probably be the primary beneficiary of such an engine existing, so it isn't all that surprising that they will have to fund the development. The second supersonic airframe that can use their engine would be the one to turn that R&D profitable for Boom (and ease the introduction of more supersonic airframe options).

[class3shock]

I would agree that the big three didn't think they could make it work, be that for technical reasons, money reasons, limited market reasons, etc. the end result is the same.

Where I would disagree is that Boom can make it work. The amount of specialized knowledge you need in design and analysis as well as test and manufacturing facilities makes it near impossible for an outsider get in the game. Which is why there aren't any in the commercial jet engine space. GE, PW, RR and I guess Safran is pretty much it. You can't just decide you are going to do the R&D yourself and pop out a new engine in 5 years.

[imron]

SpaceX went from nothing to orbital spacecraft in ~6 years.

Plenty of people discounted them at the time too.

I’m not saying Boom will succeed, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility if they can dedicate themselves to task the same way SpaceX did.

[ks1723]

I would not disagree that you can do it, but I am skeptical that you can do it in 5 years.

Honda did develop their HF118 turbofan engine apparently from scratch, but it took about 8 years [1]. And for the actual commercialization they teamed up with GE and then it took another 10 years until certification of the successor HF120 [2].

[1] scroll down on https://global.honda/en/tech/eVTOL_gas_turbine_hybrid_system...

[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_Honda_HF120

[Turing_Machine]

> GE, PW, RR and I guess Safran is pretty much it.

Honeywell Aerospace, Williams International, United Engine Corporation, and AVIC are some others.

There are more than you might think.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gas_turbine_manufactu...

Not all of these make aircraft engines, of course, but a fair number of them do.

[ethbr1]

Afaik, Kratos is prototyping supersonic-class UAVs (XQ-58C and D) for military customers, so I'd expect this isn't Boom starting from zero.

[aeyes]

Wasn't one of the Boom selling points that their aircraft would use conventional engines? Now they are developing their own...

[twobitshifter]

Also, boom could have asked for exclusive terms that they didn’t like.