Whisper Aero has broken ground on a new flight testing facility in Tennessee, where the tech start-up plans to integrate its ultraquiet propulsion system into future aircraft. The company says its proprietary propulsion system, which uses electric ducted fans, will be quieter and more efficient than anything on the market today, and it can be scaled for a variety of applications ranging from aircraft to leaf blowers.
The Whisper Aero Flight Test Center will be an 8,000-square-foot hangar located at Crossville Memorial Airport (KCSV), right next door to the company’s headquarters in Crossville, Tennessee. The new space will have high bay areas for the testing and integration of Whisper’s electric ducted fans, plus some additional office space for engineering activities.
"Crossville Memorial Airport — it's not just an airport. This is really where we started a lot of the testing for our technology … and so this is a very special spot for us,” said Ian Villa, Whisper’s co-founder and chief operating officer.
Funding for the construction project came from the state of Tennessee, which appropriated $1.2 million in legislative funds to support the new development. Whisper and the city of Crossville held a joint groundbreaking ceremony at the site on July 24, and construction is expected to be completed in early 2024.
“This is another partnership with the state to help the city [of Crossville] and to help Whisper Aero to build something that’s very needed, that’s very unique, that hasn’t been done in Tennessee before,” said Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton.
Now Hiring Engineers and Technicians
Whisper is actively hiring engineers and technicians to help develop, test, and integrate its electric ducted fans at facilities across Tennessee. In addition to the new Flight Test Center, Whisper has a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing and ground center in downtown Crossville, as well as an 8,000-square-foot office in Nashville that’s dedicated to engineering, analysis, and rapid prototyping
Since the company’s founding in 2021, Whisper has been conducting extensive flight tests using at least five different drones equipped with various prototypes of the company’s propulsion system. The bulk of those flight tests have been done with a 55-pound (25 kilograms) demonstrator drone, which Whisper says is inaudible when flying overhead at an altitude of about 200 feet.
"The flight test facility will be used for integration on all kinds of aircraft," Villa told FutureFlight. "With a dedicated hangar, we can now perform even more tests, [including] static testing of our propulsor, copper bird testing before integration on an airframe, and initial testing of commercial and DoD drones."
While Whisper has no plans to become an aircraft manufacturer, the company recently revealed a concept aircraft, called the Whisper Jet, to show how its electric ducted fans could be integrated into new aircraft designs—particularly regional, hybrid-electric airplanes.
Most of Whisper’s research and development efforts so far have been focused on defense applications. The company has won six contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense, which is interested in using the ultraquiet propulsion system for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance purposes.
As for civil aviation applications like eVTOL air taxis, delivery drones, or regional jets, Whisper CEO and co-founder Mark Moore previously told FutureFlight that the company’s propulsion system could enter service in the 2028 to 2030 timeframe. Whisper is actively looking to partner with OEMs to integrate its propulsion system into new aircraft designs, but the company has yet to announce a launch customer.
