Maybe if the definition of "disrupt" is limited to swooping in, ignoring regulations, and ending up like Uber, at the top of a $50 billion industry only because the existing businesses were too successful at making the rules for themselves. Regulatory capture of taxi commissions lead to stagnation in the industry (and credit card machines that were always mysteriously broken).
However, the linked article discusses taking 20 hours to go from London to Sydney as this huge improvement over the status quo by shaving off 4 hours.
I mean, yeah, 20 hours and no layover is better than 24 hours with a stop, but the "disruption" there is to make a jet that goes twice as fast, and take 10 hours to get there instead of 20. That also (issue of sonic boom over land aside) makes it a 3 hour flight from LA to NYC, or 3.5 hours from NYC to London, or 45 mins SFO to LAX, if that's even enough time to get up to speed.
SpaceX has managed to "disrupt" rockets, lowering launch costs by $300 million/launch, with an architecture the incumbents had rejected with reusable 1st-stage on the launch vehicle, and for cheaper than the space shuttle cost (with the benefit of some advancements in technology since 1972). Their Series A round was $20M.
Reporting that the CIA spent an estimated $3.7 billion to develop the engines for what's still the fastest airplane ever at the height of the cold war era, is an interesting fact to mention because the SR-71 is a fascinating airplane, but hardly relevant to Boom's possible cost, since they're not bankrolled by a government who is fighting the cold war against the USSR. Tantalizingly though, the SR-71's reputed top speed was Mach 3.5. At that speed, Sydney to London would take less than 6 hours!
However, the linked article discusses taking 20 hours to go from London to Sydney as this huge improvement over the status quo by shaving off 4 hours.
I mean, yeah, 20 hours and no layover is better than 24 hours with a stop, but the "disruption" there is to make a jet that goes twice as fast, and take 10 hours to get there instead of 20. That also (issue of sonic boom over land aside) makes it a 3 hour flight from LA to NYC, or 3.5 hours from NYC to London, or 45 mins SFO to LAX, if that's even enough time to get up to speed.
SpaceX has managed to "disrupt" rockets, lowering launch costs by $300 million/launch, with an architecture the incumbents had rejected with reusable 1st-stage on the launch vehicle, and for cheaper than the space shuttle cost (with the benefit of some advancements in technology since 1972). Their Series A round was $20M.
Reporting that the CIA spent an estimated $3.7 billion to develop the engines for what's still the fastest airplane ever at the height of the cold war era, is an interesting fact to mention because the SR-71 is a fascinating airplane, but hardly relevant to Boom's possible cost, since they're not bankrolled by a government who is fighting the cold war against the USSR. Tantalizingly though, the SR-71's reputed top speed was Mach 3.5. At that speed, Sydney to London would take less than 6 hours!