One of the other interesting things that make this possible doesn't have anything to do with the plane itself. Apparently at certain altitudes there are layers of distortion (my word not theirs) that interrupts and reflects sound waves back up before they reach the ground.

Apparently this plane was designed to exploit this natural phenomenon. They designed the plane for low supersonic sound signature but also to interact with that specific part of the atmosphere while also maximizing efficiency at certain speeds and altitudes so the range is still good.

If this ends up ever making it to commercial flights it would basically cut flight times in half.