No Joint Programs Underway At This Time

It's news to us... that's the message NASA and Boeing sent out Wednesday, with both entities denying they've been approached by Japanese space agency JAXA to assist in developing a supersonic airliner.

"It`s my understanding there is no discussion on that at this time with the Japanese," said NASA spokeswoman Melissa Mathews to India's ZeeNews. Boeing spokeswoman Debbie Nomaguchi agreed, adding the company was "not aware of any plan" to discuss the SST project.

As Aero-News reported earlier this week, the Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Sunday that JAXA -- weary of ongoing delays and snags with its SST development program -- had reached out for international help on the project, including to the two US entities.

Without naming its sources, Nihon Keizai added that NASA and JAXA planned to launch a joint research program on developing the fuel-efficient, low-noise SST in the coming months, with the agencies then forming an aerospace consortium with Japanese aircraft manufacturers and Boeing.

That conflicted slightly with statements by JAXA spokesman Kiyotaka Yashiro, who told the Associated Press at the time that no formal agreement had been reached with any organization as of yet... but that "in the future, we think we need some kind of cooperation with NASA."

Now, however... for the moment... it seems any talk of a joint SST development program may be premature. Stay tuned.

FMI: www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html, www.nasa.gov, www.boeing.com