The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has asked two companies to design and possibly build an experimental seaplane that can transport large amounts of cargo by water.
General Atomics and Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing subsidiary, will develop their own competing designs for DARPA’s seaplane mobility program, DARPA said Wednesday. DARPA called this program Liberty Lifter Seaplane Wing-in-Ground Effect, or Liberty Lifter for short.
DARPA wants the aircraft to be a low-cost, long-range aircraft about the same size and capacity as the C-17 Globemaster that can carry more than 170,000 pounds of cargo, including a 69-ton M1 Abrams main battle tank, armored. vehicles, trucks or trailers. The C-17 can also transport and drop 102 paratroopers and their gear, 34 stretcher patients, or 54 ambulatory patients and their attendants.
DARPA has set some ambitious goals for the Liberty Lifter’s maritime capabilities
DARPA envisions the seaplane to be more robust than some of the Navy’s aquatic capabilities. For example, small boats are usually limited to so-called Sea State 3 conditions, where waves are about four feet high. But the Liberty Lifter would have to take off and land in sea state 4, which sees waves up to about eight feet.
In Sea State 5, where waves are considered rough and reach 13 feet, these aircraft would still be required to maintain operations. Sea state 5 is the point at which conditions begin to threaten the Navy’s ability to conduct supply missions at sea between auxiliaries and warships.
The Liberty Lifter should also be capable of extended flight near water, DARPA said. DARPA “looks forward to working closely with both teams of performers as they mature their initial design concepts through Phase 1,” Christopher Kent, the agency’s program manager for the Liberty Lifter program, said in a statement. “Both teams have taken significantly different design approaches that will allow us to explore a relatively large design space during Phase 1.”
Aurora Flight Sciences’ Liberty Lifter design is closer to a traditional “flying boat,” DARPA said, with a high wing and eight turboprops. (Aurora Flight Sciences)
DARPA’s interest in the cargo seaplane is the latest example of the military trying to adapt traditional aviation capabilities to the maritime environment. The Pentagon is increasingly concerned about the possibility of war with China, and a conflict in the Indo-Pacific region would require improved naval capabilities.
General Atomics, along with naval engineering and design firm Maritime Applied Physics, designed a twin-hull, mid-wing design that DARPA says is designed to optimize its stability on the water. It should have 12 turboshaft propeller engines. The art also shows the stabilizers on his twin noses.
Instead of loading or unloading cargo from a rear door and ramp as in the C-17, General Atomics concept art shows the aircraft’s noses rising and the vehicle driving straight from the front down the ramps onto the beach.
DARPA awarded General Atomics an $8 million plus fixed-fee contract for the Liberty Lifter program in November, and General Atomics said the price could rise to $29 million. Aurora’s contract, awarded by DARPA on Jan. 27, was for $5.7 million and could grow to more than $25 million if all options are exercised.
These Phase 1 contracts are awarded for 18 months, including six months of conceptual designs and nine months of design maturation, ending with a preliminary design review. Another three months will follow for production planning and testing and demonstration planning.
During the first phase of the program, DARPA said it would work with company teams and other DoD organizations to improve the two designs, particularly to meet the military’s operational needs and operational concepts.
DARPA plans to launch Phase 2 in mid-2024 as further work continues to refine the Liberty Lifter design, as well as the production and demonstration of a full-scale X-plane. DARPA expects to team up with at least one military service in Phase 2, as well as international partners, as it works to further develop the concept into an operational vehicle.
DARPA announced last month that it had selected Aurora to begin designing another experimental aircraft that would use short bursts of air to maneuver instead of traditional ailerons or other mechanical devices as part of the Controlling Revolutionary Aircraft with New Effectors, or CRANE, program.
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