New DARPA projects come about for various reasons, but sometimes they start with an impossible question. Five years ago, Alexander Walan, a program manager for the agency's Tactical Technology Office, started asking if it was possible to design an ocean-crossing cargo vessel with a 100-kt. cruise speed."The short answer was: not really," Walan tells Aviation Week.By pursuing that line of inquiry for several years, however, Walan settled on what became the newly unveiled Liberty Lifter concept. Starting with a $31 million budget request for fiscal 2023, DARPA hopes to demonstrate a C-17-size, seagoing strategic air-lifter by 2028.In fact, DARPA's proposed design calls for a hybrid configuration. The Liberty Lifter would be a wing-in-ground-effect aircraft that skims on a ground-effect air cushion over the tops of waves at up to 200 kt., but would also be a flying boat capable of ascending up to 10,000 ft.
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