The Liberty Lifter project was announced by DARPA in 2022 to produce an ekranoplane for use by the United States military. The designs of General Atomics and Aurora Flight Systems were then selected for the next phase last year. This week Aurora Flight Systems shared an animation of how their ekranoplan will work in the future.
The animation shows the plane flying at a height of about 30 meters above sea level. When flying only four of the eight engines are needed. It then landed on the surface of the sea and removed its cargo of amphibious armored cars from the ship's stern. Then it will fly back into the air with the help of eight engines.
There is a change in the design of the ekranoplan in the video above from the original design as it now has twin tails and wings that no longer bend down like the wings of a seagull. Two floats are now also placed on the wingtips like the Hughes H-4 Hercules.
Unlike the ekranoplan built by the Soviet Union during the 1960s, the Project Liberty ekranoplan is capable of flying at a height of up to 3000 meters when needed and operating in undulating surfaces up to 2.5 meters.
Aurora Flight Systems said they are currently in the phase of building a small-scale prototype with a 65 meter wingspan. Next, a real-scale plane will be built with the goal of it making its first flight in 2028. This real-scale plane aims to be able to carry cargo weighing 81,000 kg.
This project was initiated by DARPA after seeing the situation of the expansion of the "9 broken lines" area in the South China Sea by China. If there is a war between China and America in the future, the use of conventional carriers will be difficult because there are not many airports that can land on short runways. The use of ekranoplan as a cargo plane not only solves this issue but at the same time is a faster solution.