Further progress on the design depends on whether or not American officials select it for development under both DARPA's Advanced Full Range Engine program and the US Air Force's Turbine-Based Combined Cycle study. If it does go ahead, it'll be a while before there's a production aircraft. Boeing would start by making a single-engine proof of concept vehicle (roughly the size of an F-16 Falcon) and would move on to a full-sized, dual-engine version. Also, don't expect to get exactly what you see here. Boeing's Kevin Bowcutt told Aerospace Daily that the design is still evolving, so this is more a reflection of the current state of affairs than anything.

Still, the new details show that competition in hypersonic flight is finally heating up -- it's slowly moving past small-scale demos and purely theoretical exercises. While the first aircraft are likely to be limited to military and spaceflight purposes (like Boeing's own XS-1), the work you see here could translate to the civilian world in time.