DARPA Launches "Lifter Liberty" Seaplane Project Concept For Heavy Air Transport

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) unveiled a concept on May 18 for a new heavy airlift seaplane dubbed the Liberty Lifter. The name was announced after the agency released a request for information (RFI) in August last year, seeking ideas that could demonstrate a leap in operational logistics capabilities by designing, building, and flying a long-range, low-cost X-plane capable of seaborne strategic and tactical lift. Leveraging the wing-in-ground effect, DARPA’s project will be similar to the ekranoplan concept that was embraced by the Soviet and Russian navies in the 1980s and 90s.