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The design and recovery considerations are presented for a staged supersonic transport (SSST). It is shown that the SSST offers economic benefits over the conventional SST. The SSST benefits from the ability to “optimize” the design for minimum drag during supersonic cruise without the penalties of: landing gear, extensive flaps for landing, and the meeting of FAR 36 noise requirements. The recovery considerations are also presented to validate the SSST concept.

An economic analysis is presented of a composite (= staged) configuration option to a supersonic transport with transatlantic range. It is shown that the staged approach offers economic advantages over a conventional SST. A staged SST offers the possibility of ‘optimizing’ the configuration for the cruise flight condition, does not require flaps nor landing gear, does not carry any penalty for meeting FAR 36 takeoff and landing noise requirements and causes up to 30% less stratospheric pollution. Therefore, despite the potential for operational problems with launch and recovery, the staged SST option may have to be taken seriously.