The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency last week awarded General Atomics and Boeing’s [BA] Aurora Flight Sciences modifications to exercise option one of the Liberty Lifter Seaplane X-Plane program.
This July 27 awards amount to $21.5 million for General Atomics, adding to the previously awarded $8 million for a total contract face value of $29.5 million. Aurora Flight Sciences won a $19.5 million modification on top of the almost $6 million earlier award for a total of $25 million.
Both companies will perform this work until July 2024.
DARPA originally revealed the Liberty Lifter concept in 2022, when it described the goal as using low-cost design and construction to combine fast and flexible strategic lift of large and very large loads with the ability to take-off and land on water (Defense Daily, May 27, 2022).
Then in February, DARPA selected the teams led by GA and Aurora Flight Sciences to develop designs that would lead to a full-scale demonstrator (Defense Daily, Feb. 2).
The agency previously said it aims for the Liberty Lifter demonstrator to be a flying boat with a size and capacity akin to the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, which has a maximum payload capacity of 170,900 pounds.
An 18-month Phase 1 of the program involves the two teams refining their designs while focusing on operational needs and concepts. This will be divided into six months of conceptual design work and nine months of design maturation before a preliminary design review (PDR). Following the PDR, there will be a three-month manufacturing planning and test-demonstration planning reviews.
A DARPA spokesperson told Defense Daily this option award allows both teams to move into Phase 1B, “where they move from the concept development and on to a refined design and testing and manufacturing plans.”
The plans will then support PDR, Manufacture Planning Review and Test Planning Review at the end of Phase I.
DARPA has said the Liberty Lifter program is expected to move to Phase 2 in mid-2024, when it will continue detail design, manufacturing and demonstration of the full scale X-Plane.
General Atomics’ team includes Maritime Applied Physics Corporation while Aurora is working with Leidos’ [LDOS] Gibbs & Cox and ReconCraft.