Russian officials estimate a global demand for some 400 supersonic bizjets. It was announced earlier this year that Russia was looking to design its own competitor to current US projects, which would be based on the Tupolev Tu-160 supersonic bomber. It has now been decided, however, that the new design will be a clean sheet project due to the difficulties of converting a military design to fly supersonically with a passenger cabin, together with environmental concerns over emissions and noise.