Quiet aviation propulsion system developer Whisper Aero on Tuesday unveiled a system designed to enable runway independence for conventional, short, or vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, from electric air taxis to military transporters.
Whisper last year unveiled its JetFoil propulsion system—which integrates the company’s “ultraquiet” electric engines and ducted fan system on a wing’s airfoil—for autonomous military platforms. At SAE International’s AeroTech 2026 event in Florida this week, the firm said the JetFoil could enable takeoffs with just 50 feet of ground roll using less than half the thrust of VTOL designs that use tilting propulsors. That covers many eVTOL (electric VTOL) air taxi concepts.
The reveal coincided with the announcement of Whisper CEO Mark Moore—a 30-year veteran of NASA who later served as engineering director of aviation for Uber’s short-lived Elevate program—as the winner of the 2026 F.E. Newbold S/VTOL Award. The previous winner in 2023 was responsible for developing precision vertical landing systems that unlocked reusability for SpaceX rockets. Other recipients worked on VTOL systems for the V-22 Osprey, AV-8A Harrier, and F-35 Lighting II.
Whisper chief operating and product officer Ian Villa also comes from Uber Elevate and previously led product strategy for eVTOL air taxi developer Joby Aviation.
The JetFoil runs on the company’s eQ engine series that accommodates aircraft as large as Group 3 drones, which have a maximum weight of 1,320 pounds and speed under 250 knots. Whisper calls it a JetFoil rather than an airfoil because it distributes the ducted fan engines across the entire leading edge of the wing.
Villa told FLYING that the company is in talks with government customers to build and fly JetFoil-equipped prototypes. Whisper itself will not build aircraft, though it has released several concepts that demonstrate how its propulsion system could be integrated. Rather, the idea is that prototypes flown by the military could be transitioned to commercial manufacturers who can bring them to market.
Villa said the company’s early JetFoil customers are focused on defense but see future applications in urban or regional air mobility aircraft. He could not share who those customers are but said Whisper plans to reveal them in the near future. The system could even be installed on light sport aircraft (LSA) under the FAA’s revamped Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) rule.
Whisper has contracts with the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and NASA to validate the JetFoil in flight for applications from surveillance to spaceflight. That includes an Air Force partnership to explore two collaborative logistics aircraft (CLA) prototypes, with flight testing planned for 2027.
Villa said the JetFoil is designed for clean-sheet aircraft, like the CLA prototypes, as well as retrofits on existing airframes. For example, one could swap the de Havilland Twin Otter’s high wing for a JetFoil and hybrid-electric powertrain.
How It Works
According to Whisper, the JetFoil enables near-vertical takeoff without tilting propulsors—a common feature of many electric air taxi designs—or separate lifting propulsion systems, such as those on the F-35B S/VTOL variant.
The system does not enable a completely vertical liftoff and hover. For VTOL, it requires a 50-foot ground roll to clear a 50-foot obstacle in 300 feet or less. But that places less demand on the aircraft than a powered-lift system would, which Whisper said allows JetFoil-powered aircraft to cover more range with double the payload of tilt-propulsor air taxis.
Whisper said Tuesday that unlike turbofans or propellers, ducted fans are “scale invariant with respect to thrust,” meaning they can be compact without sacrificing efficiency, even at high speeds.
The company said that through testing, it found it could enable runway independence using just a “simple flap” that produces uniform, high-velocity exhaust. Per Whisper, the flap allows the JetFoil to redirect airflows at a 90-degree angle—blowing it over the wing to generate passive lift—while losing only 5 percent of thrust.
Whisper said the system is “stall proof” and resistant to wind or turbulence. For aircraft with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 0.5 and wing loading of 25 pounds per square foot, it said, JetFoil achieves a coefficient of lift as high as 40 at 15 knots.
The company added that the configuration causes jet noise to “bounce off” the upper surface of the wing. Moore previously studied the phenomenon working on NASA’s Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft demonstrator, but Whisper said the JetFoil builds on that work.
Whisper’s technology already powers commercially available leaf blowers sold under its Tone brand. With Tuesday’s reveal, the company is moving closer to bringing it to aircraft.
