For those who remember their History Channel on aircraft development, lucky for all that these are twisted propellers as even a five blade straight prop causes constant mini sonic booms making all around nauseous.
I wonder how old the design is. Did they have it for a long while and were just able to do it now?
Thanks for the link. I could be dead wrong but those appear to be six bladed props in the photo yet the article says eight. I just retired from the Army maybe my eyes are going to where my heart has already gone. Golden years my @#%!!
Anyway, the supersonic effect is interesting to read about. I flew helicopters in Vietnam and even then there was design research to minimize rotor “tip snap”. I always wondered why when a UH-1H was coming at you it sounded like a machine gun until it passed overhead and then all you could hear was the buzz of the tail rotor.
The old (but still effective) Russian Tu-95 “Bear” bomber has contrarotating props which are said to make early warning radar unnecessary because they are so noisy you’ll hear them before you can paint them. Is that the same sonic boom effect?