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Aircraft

Watch: New animation shows wing-in-ground effect Liberty Lifter in action

By David Szondy
September 25, 2024
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Rendering of the Liberty Lifter transport
Aurora Flight Sciences
Rendering of the Liberty Lifter transport
Aurora Flight Sciences

Aurora Flight Sciences has released a new video of its revolutionary wing-in-ground-effect Liberty Lifter concept aircraft that it's developing for DARPA. The aircraft uses ground effect to lift heavy loads without the need for an airstrip or ship port.

At first glance, the Liberty Lifter looks like an old-fashioned prop plane from the 1940s, but looks can be deceiving. In a DARPA project begun in 2022, Aurora and General Atomics were contracted to develop their own versions of the transport, which uses wing-in-ground effect to trap a cushion of air under the wings while flying close to the ground or surface of the water.

This increases the range of the aircraft and allows the lifting of heavy loads while flying at high speeds at an altitude of 100 feet (30 m). In addition, unlike earlier Soviet Ekranoplan projects, it has the ability to fly at higher altitudes of up to 10,000 ft (3,000 m) and can take off and land in rough seas.

The goal is to create a seaplane for military and emergency relief operations that can carry cargoes equal in size and weight to that of a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, can operate in sea state 4 (wave height 1.25 m to 2.5 m (4.1 ft 8.2 ft)), and has a ferry range of 6,500 nm (7480 miles, 12,000 km).

The new video shows the complete Liberty Lifter in action, landing in the sea at a remote island location and unloading heavy armored amphibious vehicles before taking off again.

According to Aurora, their work on building an X-plane demonstrator aircraft with a wingspan of 213 ft (65 m) and capable of lifting 50,000 lb (22,680 kg) of cargo is in Phase 1B, which involves testing activities that end in a preliminary design review. In addition, tank tests have been made to test the design in the required sea state and wind tunnel tests for propeller performance.

Phase 2 will involve a critical design review and Phase 3 in 2026 will involve the building of the X-plane. The final aircraft scheduled to fly in 2028 will have a cargo capacity of 180,000 lb (81,000 kg).

"Liberty Lifter fills a critical gap between today’s airlift and maritime transport capabilities," said Mike Caimona, president and CEO of Aurora Flight Sciences. "Development in this space will advance strategic operations at sea, and we’re proud to be working with DARPA, Boeing, and our partners to move this technology forward."

Source: Aurora Flight Sciences

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David Szondy
David Szondy is a playwright, author and journalist based in Seattle, Washington. A retired field archaeologist and university lecturer, he has a background in the history of science, technology, and medicine with a particular emphasis on aerospace, military, and cybernetic subjects. In addition, he is the author of four award-winning plays, a novel, reviews, and a plethora of scholarly works ranging from industrial archaeology to law. David has worked as a feature writer for many international magazines and has been a feature writer for New Atlas since 2011.
7 comments
Fast Corner
Not to be too obvious here, but it also bears a striking resemblance and design characteristics with another famous heavy-lift, straight-winged, eight prop-engined seaplane known as the "Spruce Goose," which is currently on display at the Evergreen Aviation Museum not far from my home. While not intended as a WIGE aircraft, the Hughes Hercules (official name) only flew in WIGE mode the one time it ever flew in the late 1940s. It is something to see up close.
Nelson
Ah Boeong product, that is how we will know the cost will be bloated and the plane inferior.
rgbatduke
I'm still struggling to see the utility of its "ground effect" flight. OK, so it comes in close to the water to "land" on the water, and presumably can "land" on land the same way. Sure, being low to the, um, "ground" means that it flies literally under at least some radar. But a) Does it actually fly UP in the sky when it is far from radar etc, where the air is thinner and it can both move faster and spend less energy doing so, kind of like, you know, a normal not so ground effect-y prop plane? and b) Is it incapable of flying (say) even HIGHER than 2.5 meters if needs to on an approach over "rough seas", because 2.5 meter waves aren't that rough -- they are calm weather ocean waves that have reached the shallowing shore on almost any ocean. It's hard to take a BOAT into the near-shore surf zone because while they aren't that rough per se, they can tip many craft past the point of stability and eventually they break (and will cheerfully break anything riding along with them as they do)? Yes, the article says it can fly up to 10,000 feet (still not that high, well into the nasty weather zone and not above it) but is it INTENDED to fly at that height unless it is at the terminal under-the-radar part of an approach? Is the range really the range flying low enough to crash into buildings, ships, or mere hills, or would it be fairer to say that this is just a seaplane that usually flies high just like the old Pan Am seaplanes flew but can come down and fly 10-20 feet off the ground or water if a pilot has some specific need to? Finally, how vulnerable is it? Surely nobody sane would rely on them to invade a fortified beach a la D-Day in WWII... low and slow may be under the radar, sure, but not under the line of sight of artillery spotters or surface launched missiles in a coastal defense...
Smokey_Bear
rgbatduke - Did you read the article?
The ground effect air bubble has been known for a very long time, if you take advantage of it, you get solid efficiency gains. The point of this aircraft isn't to be stealthy, but hitting a ship (while being HIGHLY unlikely) is still a valid concern.
Rusty
Not that it worked that well, but the old Soviet Union back in the 80's operated one of these, called the Lun-class ekranoplan, or "Caspian Sea Monster".
Wonder if the BOEING one will ever work?
MQ
Yes, the only reason for this craft is future global conventional war....

Last time around the goose was completed too late? Need to pre-plan these events...

- no emergency, this idea will slide back into obscurity fpr another decade.. (note none have entered regular service anywhere despite ekranoplan being / experimented made at scale previously...
Loc
This is an old idea. Just in the range of a breaching whale. No longer of any practical use for war. Might be useful to use as an arial firefighter. California could use that. Just watch for whales. : )
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