A team including Aurora Flight Sciences will develop a more traditional single-hull version of the Liberty Lifter. [Courtesy: DARPA]
Key Takeaways:
DARPA's Liberty Lifter program has selected two teams to develop distinct designs for a large transport seaplane, intended to carry troops and heavy equipment over long distances using wing-in-ground effect.
The two teams are General Atomics (with Maritime Applied Physics Corp.), proposing a twin-hull design, and Aurora Flight Sciences (with Gibbs & Cox and ReconCraft), developing a single-hull concept, allowing DARPA to explore varied approaches.
The Liberty Lifter aims to combine ship-like loading capabilities at docks with the ability to unload on beaches, possess cargo capacity similar to a C-17, and primarily operate in ground effect over water while also capable of higher altitude flight.
The program has entered an 18-month Phase 1 for design development, with the objective of having a demonstrator aircraft flying within approximately five years.
Development of the Liberty Lifter just got more interesting.
The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) named two teams that will work on different designs for a large transport seaplane to carry troops and heavy equipment for long distances over water using wing-in-ground effect aerodynamics to boost efficiency.
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Jonathan Welsh is Lead Editor of Aviation Consumer and a private pilot who worked as a reporter, editor and columnist with the Wall Street Journal for 21 years, mostly covering the auto industry. His passion for aviation began in childhood with balsa-wood gliders his aunt would buy for him at the corner store. Follow Jonathan on Twitter @JonathanWelsh4
