Project Description: Gulfstream Aerospace and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center tested the structural integrity of a telescopic 'Quiet Spike' sonic boom mitigator on a NASA F-15B testbed aircraft.
When they were retired in 2003 mainly due to unsustainable operational costs, and complaints about the thunderous sonic boom nothing took their place until now.
The downside, supersonic travel creates a shock wave or sonic boom that is loud and disruptive over land, which is why it's only intended for long hauls across oceans.