Centennial-based Boom Technology chooses Adams County as test site for its supersonic jet engines

Boom Device the Colorado company working on building the next generation of supersonic jets has chosen to develop and test its engines of the future just miles north of its Centennial headquarters at the Colorado Air and Space Port in Watkins Adams County commissioners this week approved a five-year lease with Boom The company has pledged to invest million to million over the next year to improve and upgrade the site on the space port s east side where it will do its testing Adams County owns the Colorado Air and Space Port formerly known as Front Range Airport We re absolute thrilled that Boom has chosen Adams County Lynn Baca who chairs Adams County s Board of Commissioners noted Thursday It s really Boom s venture in our group that puts us at the forefront of aerospace and Adams County s commitment to advancing next-generation transportation technologies Boom made news earlier this year when its XB- jet became the first independently developed aircraft to break the sound barrier tearing through the air tens of thousands of feet above California s Mojave Desert The demonstrator aircraft a prelude to the company s commercial jet dubbed the Overture accelerated to Mach within about minutes of taking off according to the company and a live video of the test flight Late January s test flight was another step toward reviving supersonic commercial passage which went defunct with the grounding of the Concorde jet more than two decades ago Boom CEO Blake Scholl has mentioned publicly that the Overture will debut in with tickets priced from to for a -hour flight from New York to London The company says its plane will have a top speed of times the speed of sound or about mph and carry between and passengers The specter of revived supersonic journey across the globe convinced American Airlines in to commit to buying Overtures from Boom The year before United Airlines committed to purchasing of the aircraft which will built in North Carolina A Boom spokesperson on Thursday authenticated the lease with Adams County but disclosed the company didn t have anything more to say about it without delay Jeff Kloska executive director of the Colorado Air and Space Port also established the arrangement but declined to say more According to a presentation shown at the commissioners meeting on Tuesday Boom plans to station to engineers and technicians in Adams County to perfect the Overture s engine dubbed Symphony a turbofan engine with a -pound thrust The new deal with Boom is not unfamiliar territory for the Colorado Air and Space Port The same space Boom is moving into was previously leased to Reaction Engines a British aerospace company that was doing similar research and enhancement for the last seven years Reaction Engines shut down late last year after running into funding problems Adams County announced it ended the lease with the company last month Related Articles Representatives Boom aims to build supersonic jets in North Carolina Centennial-based Boom Supersonic unveils new airplane expected to movement at times the speed of sound Centennial s Boom Supersonic partners with Japan Airlines on orders M expenditure It s a big deal stated Morgan Alu director of international business progress and special projects with the Metro Denver Economic Progress Corporation and staff lead of the Colorado Space Coalition That capability near a runway is great for the state Alu commented being so close to population centers Boom can access engineering talent while still roaring its test engines at high decibels without disturbing anyone near the remote space port According to a new record from the Colorado Space Coalition that focuses on an -county region along the Front Range the aerospace industry employs people across companies with an average annual wage of We re on the cutting edge Baca disclosed To be on the horizon in that next step in space movement is an exciting adventure to be on Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter