U.S. Army Looks to Use Silent Technology for Next-Generation Aircraft

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

U.S. Army looks to use silent technology for next-generation aircraft:

The U.S. Army has announced that its researchers in cooperation with Uber research lab are working on silent and efficient VTOL, or vertical takeoff and landing operation, for the next generation fleet of Army air vehicles.

Currently, stealthily moving of troops and supplies is Army modernization priorities for future vertical lift aircraft.

The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), Army Research Laboratory, researchers collaborated with Uber and the University of Texas at Austin to investigate the acoustic properties of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, which use distributed electric propulsion to power flight.

According to a recent team's paper published in the Vertical Flight Society 76th Annual Forum Proceedings, these eVTOL vehicles may aid the Army with important tasks such as aerial surveillance and cargo transport; however, they feature smaller rotors than traditional helicopters. As a result, eVTOL rotors may emit a different sound signature that researchers will have to take into consideration.

Initial experimentation of this concept has revealed the potential for stacked co-rotating rotors be significantly quieter than traditional paired rotor approaches and improve performance for a flying craft. To date, stacked co-rotating rotors have not been deployed in existing flying craft.

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