At a press conference today, Jaiwon Shin, the associate administrator of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, announced that Lockheed Martin would build the aircraft for $247.5 million. Dave Richardson from Lockheed Martin made clear that this plane is not a prototype; it's a research aircraft only. It will start flight tests in 2021.
Lockheed Martin's research will focus on reducing the noise of a sonic boom (hence the name "low boom"), allowing the LBFD to fly quietly over land. It will be flown over select US cities, and then NASA will ask residents and workers in those cities whether they heard anything. They hope to use this data to change the rule that prohibits civil supersonic flights over land, opening the air travel market to supersonic flight on land.
Update: Lockheed Martin published the following video today explaining more about the LBFD.
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