How to make aerodynamically aligned items in Illustrator?

If I were to do this in Illustrator, I’d create one shape, then use Object > Transform > Transform Each > Copy to move/rotate the shape, creating a row of shapes that ‘turns’. Then, I’d copy the row of shapes vertically by the same amount (no rotation this time), shifting it left or right by a step with each row, to ‘bend’ the shapes around the central circle. Of course, this would require knowing exactly how much you want the shapes to rotate and in how many steps. But by using a document grid, it should be pretty easy.