Pentagon Builds New “Liberty Lifter” Fuel-Efficient Sea Plane

By Logan Williams, Warrior Editorial Fellow

The Pentagon is designing an innovative new cargo plane that might solve most of the United States’ airlift deficiencies.

The project, called “Liberty Lifter,” is headed by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and its purpose is to design a low-cost sea plane with increased fuel efficiency, capable of carrying medium-sized cargo loads to farther distances.

The Liberty Lifter attempts to make use of a physics phenomenon called “ground effect.” Ground effect is the reduced aerodynamic drag of an aircraft, caused by air trapped between the flat surface of the Earth and the horizontal surfaces of an aircraft (e.g., the wings), which practically causes the aircraft to float, flying with reduced fuel consumption over increased distances.

Thus, the Liberty Lifter is expected to have a range of about 6,000 miles, which is approximately the distance from the United States’ West Coast, to the South China Sea battlespace. This range is significantly greater than the United States’ other airlift platforms. The Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules has a range of about 2,000 miles, while the Boeing C-17 Globemaster can carry cargo at a maximum range of just under 3,000 miles. The Grumman C-2 Greyhound can carry cargo at a maximum range of approximately 1,500 miles.

Importantly, the Liberty Lifter is designed to land and take off from the ocean’s surface, in rough weather reaching up to Sea State 4 & 5. This is an incredibly crucial capability within the Indo-Pacific battlespace, due to the severely limited number of land-basing opportunities for runways sufficient to launch and receive heavy cargo air-lifters.

Crucially, in an element that has been little discussed by media sources, the Liberty Lifter is likely to have enhanced survivability. Aircraft and missiles fly close to the surface of the Earth to avoid detection by enemy radar (a function often called sea skimming, in the missile context), due to the fact that the sea’s waves and other disturbances create interference for radar signals. Thus, the Liberty Lifter is naturally stealthy, without the need for specialized, expensive customizations designed to