Boeing received the order for the construction of the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) aircraft demonstrator from NASA. It is a new passenger aircraft configuration that is expected to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 30% compared to the most efficient aircraft of today.

Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) is a proposed Boeing wing concept with additional structural elements, or braces, that give the functional airframe stiffness and strength under load.

Braces, which have actually been used quite extensively since the early years of aeronautics, but not usually in passenger airliners, are required in the new aircraft because of the very high relative elongation of the wing. We are talking about relative elongation (this is the ratio of the square of the wing span to its total area) of the order of 27, against 8-10 in modern narrow-body aircraft such as the Airbus A320 or Boeing 737. Such relative elongation is more characteristic of gliders, not airplanes.

NASA has allocated $425 million for the construction of a full-scale demonstrator, while Boeing and partners are investing $725 million. The donor for the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing prototype will be a shortened McDonnell Douglas MD-90, and the first flight of the demonstrator is scheduled to take place in 2028. The next stage is the creation of a whole family of aircraft for 130-210 passengers.