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When Tennessee-based Whisper Aero unveiled its electric ducted fan technology in 2023, the emphasis was on its extremely low noise — the reason for the company’s name. Whisper’s unique high-blade-count fan design pushes the blade passage frequency into the ultrasonic range, where the resulting tonal noise is inaudible to humans. The potential applications for the tech range from leaf blowers to regional aircraft; essentially anywhere there is value in moving air quietly.
At the time of the unveil, Whisper also revealed the design for a notional Whisper Jet, an example of how its technology could be integrated into an aircraft using a “JetFoil” array of ducted fans along a wing’s leading edge. Besides low noise, Whisper said the JetFoil design would provide extremely high lift by virtue of blowing air across the upper surface of the wing, along with very low drag thanks to its smooth integration with the wing and clean exhaust air flow. In 2023, however, these benefits were still largely theoretical.
Whisper co-founders Mark Moore and Ian Villa haven’t said much about the JetFoil in the three years since, but their team has been busy behind the scenes developing the technology and testing it in the lab. Now, they’re finally ready to share some of the results as Moore receives the F.E. Newbold V/STOL Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
In an interview with The Air Current ahead of their reveal at SAE International’s AeroTech conference in West Palm Beach, Florida on June 2, Moore and Villa claimed the JetFoil is proving to be even more revolutionary than they originally suggested, with properties that could enable otherwise conventional airplanes to approach the capabilities of vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Whisper is now partnering with California-based startup Mach Industries to develop this “near-VTOL” capability for the Defense Innovation Unit Runway Independent Maritime & Expeditionary Strike (RIMES) program, which seeks drones that can carry fighter-class munitions from destroyers and other warships that lack large flight decks.
“We’ve never been able to get the wing to stall — this is a stall-proof wing,” said Moore, explaining how the JetFoil design delivers near-constant lift even as airspeed approaches zero. “Even as you’re flying at crazy low speeds, you cannot stall the wing, which is an incredible safety feature.”
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