XB-1 broke the sound barrier in two test flights (Credit: Boom Supersonic/ CC-BY-SA-2.0)

On January 28, 2025, XB-1, an experimental aircraft built by US company Boom Supersonic, became the first privately built jet to fly faster than the speed of sound. To prove this was not a fluke, test pilot Tristan Brandenburg flew around for two more supersonic runs over California’s Mojave Desert before returning to land.