If you were standing on the ground, and a Gulfstream supersonic business jet of the future, fitted with its patented “quiet spike” flew overhead at Mach 1.8 – that’s one point eight times the speed of sound – you would barely hear it whisper.
Until now, any jet breaking the sound barrier would normally generate a boom loud enough to frighten the children and a shockwave severe enough to rattle the windows.
But over a decade of research by plane makers such as Gulfstream Aerospace is now starting to deliver the technology necessary to make commercial supersonic flight a reality once again – if only in the private jet market.
Key to their work has been the design of the jet’s nose and engine nacelles, the outer casing that encloses the engine core, which are the surfaces that effectively stretch and then tear the air ahead of the aircraft as it passes through the sound barrier at 1,220kph, otherwise known as Mach 1.
Gulfstream’s Quiet Spike is essentially a retractable nose tip that changes the shape of a traditional sonic boom pressure wave as it builds up in front of the jet so that when it passes Mach 1, the “boom” is quieter than the thunderclap made by Concorde by a factor of 10,000, according to Gulfstream.
“We’ve essentially taken the boom out of sonic boom,” according to a Gulfstream spokesman. “[The boom] is so indistinct that most people on the ground wouldn’t even realise a supersonic aircraft had passed overhead.”
Gulfstream has also patented an engine design that contributes to addressing the acoustic signature of supersonic flight, by shaping the nacelle to reduce sonic-boom strength, and drag on the jet’s airframe.
Drag is another problem. As an aircraft approaches supersonic speed, the pressure wave it generates creates drag. To offset the drag, the aircraft engine needs to create extra thrust and that dramatically boosts fuel consumption. An aircraft accelerating from Mach 0.085 to Mach 1.7 will quadruple its fuel consumption.
However, Preston Henne, a Gulfstream executive, said the company’s work on the Rolls-Royce Tay engines powering the current G450 business jet is a viable option for supersonic speed. The Tay is a modified Spey engine, designed for the Royal Air Force to power its McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom squadrons in the 1970s. Another engine option is the Rolls-Royce BR725 engine installed on the Gulfstream G650.
Nasa is also confident that routine supersonic overland flight is within reach. The breakthrough is expected, however, to prove taxing for regulators as supersonic flight is banned over many countries.
Wind-tunnel tests last year of Boeing and Lockheed Martin concepts for small supersonic airliners showed aircraft can now be designed that combine both low boom and low drag.
Until now “boom” and good performance have been mutually exclusive, but, “we have broken that paradox,” said Peter Coen, manager of Nasa’s supersonic fixed-wing programme. “We achieved low boom with good supersonic-cruise lift-to-drag ratio.”
Gulfstream is not alone in seeking to bring a supersonic business jet to market.
"There's been an industry push to bring supersonics to the forefront of research to develop a sonic-boom standard and a rule governing environmentally efficient supersonic flight over land," the Gulfstream spokeswoman Heidi Fedak said. "The need for speed, the next technological step in air travel, is also driving research," she added.
dblack@thenational.ae
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
UAE v Ireland
1st ODI, UAE win by 6 wickets
2nd ODI, January 12
3rd ODI, January 14
4th ODI, January 16
Fast%20X
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
