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On March 9, Whisper Aero CEO Mark Moore unveiled the first public image of the “Whisper Drone” during a presentation at HAI Heli-Expo in Dallas, Tex. The Tennessee-based startup is using the fixed-wing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) drone to test its ultra-quiet electric propulsion technology, and early results are reportedly promising. Whisper Aero co-founder Ian Villa claimed on Twitter that the drone is inaudible from just 200 feet away, a dramatic improvement over competing products like the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle.
The 55-pound, 12-foot wingspan drone could find military or commercial applications in the near term, but it’s also part of a larger plan to electrify high-speed flight. “So many people associate electric aircraft with slow aircraft that are low power,” Moore told The Air Current in a recent interview. “We are going to prove that electric aircraft with the right tech actually want to be very fast and very productive.”
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