NASA's X-59 research jet is designed to travel faster than sound while muffling the resulting sonic boom. The space agency is exploring whether the plane's tech could also apply to future commercial airliners - allowing travellers to cross the Atlantic at speeds greater than 1,500mph.
If sonic booms could be reduced to a quieter level, I wonder how it would affect the design and operation of future military aircraft, whether they would feel like they were more free to fly at supersonic speeds over populated areas and whether they would fly supersonic more frequently (this could be doubtful because it would use up more fuel and create more wear on aircraft components, driving up fuel and maintenance costs).
Are fuel and maintenance costs something heavily consider though?
for detection purposes, the sonic boom isn’t all that important for military aircraft, which are usually detected by light (either radio or infrared) and most of the time they don’t fly over populated areas anyway (and when the do frequently, they usually care about things other than civilian comfort)
tldr maybe but it would probably be like 10th on the list of priorities, it’ll make its way in around the edges but not fundamentally change it