UltraQuiet JetFoil-Enabled V/STOL Multi-Mission UAS

Whisper Aero has developed unique Electric Ducted Fans that provide scale invariant thrust that has the same high efficiency and thrust to weight ratio characteristics at any size. Because these propulsors are compact with low complexity they can be tightly integrated into emission-less electric aircraft concepts in compelling ways to achieve breakthrough performance, noise, and cost. A battery electric concept will be designed as a manned variant of a DoD hybrid electric cargo drone being developed by Whisper Aero as part of a recent STRATFI/OECIF award. The proposed effort is a unique design effort with substantially different requirements to meet a General Aviation civil mission definition that can be in production by 2030. A unique characteristic of this design is the ability to perform eVTOL, eSTOL, and eCTOL missions at different gross weights with the same aircraft. This enables a single aircraft product to have varying utility to trade off takeoff performance for added range or payload, depending on user needs. Leveraging the STRATFI drone learnings offers increased probability of achieving a certified aircraft by utilizing identical components arranged in a different configuration and with a different energy source (batteries instead of a hybrid turbogenerator). Achieving dual use across aircraft product families has been a core goal of AFWERX as they’ve stimulated the eVTOL ecosystem. Commercialization success is further enhanced by leveraging the Phase II sub-scale test aircraft to align with delivery drone requirements to validate not only the concept feasibility and also yield an operational demonstrator that has additional product potential.