AIRCRAFT HAVING DISTRIBUTED FANS FOR BOUNDARY LAYER INGESTION

An aircraft (100) having distributed fans (212, 222, 232, 242, 252) for boundary layer ingestion is provided. In one aspect, an aircraft includes a fuselage extending between a forward end and an aft end. The aircraft includes a plurality of boundary layer ingestion fans (212, 222, 232, 242, 252) arranged in an array. Each fan of the array is mounted to and arranged circumferentially around the aft end of the fuselage. The fans are positioned so as to ingest boundary layer airflow flowing along the fuselage. At least two fans (222, 232) of the array are different sizes. Each fan of the fan array is operatively coupled with an electric machine (214, 224, 234, 254). The electric machines are operable to drive their respective fans to produce thrust. The fans of the array are independently controlled in accordance with the boundary layer suction requirements of the aircraft (100).