NASA F-5 Shaped Sonic Boom Experiment (SSBE) testing at EAFB complete
The DARPA funded, Northrop Grumman designed F-5SSBD (Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstrator) was flown again, under NASA funding, to get more measurements of the experimental airplane's sonic boom characteristics. A baseline F-5E was flown for comparison. Above ground sonic boom measurements were made with an F-15B and Blanik L-23 glider (glider photo). About 20 flights were conducted in eleven days resulting in over 1000 ground and in the air sonic boom measurements recorded. NASA is currently planning to publish data publically when data reductions are completed. The experiment is validating theories and technology for reducing sonic boom loudness.