The US Air Force is looking for a new regional airlifter that would not require traditional ground infrastructure such as a maintained runway.
Dubbed the Runway Independent Mobility/Next Generation Intra-theatre Airlift (NGIA), the programme aims to enhance the air force’s existing airlift capability “with an intra-theatre platform that can fight through damaged infrastructure on responsive timelines”, according to the service.
The effort is still in nascent stages, with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) having in September released a formal solicitation for industry proposals. The solicitation period closed on 16 November.
The Request for Information (RFI) does not launch a contracting process, but responses will help the AFRL determine the project’s feasibility and inform possible requirements for a future procurement programme.
While such RFIs are by design somewhat vague (so as not to limit industry innovation), the NGIA solicitation offers clues about potential capabilities of any future aircraft.
In using the phrase “responsive timelines”, the AFRL likely means it seeks an aircraft with the speed and range typical of traditional fixed-wing aircraft. “Runway independence” is Pentagon-speak for a platform not bound by the physical and logistical constraints of a conventional take-off and landing aircraft.
Examples of existing fixed-wing aircraft considered runway independent include the vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor and the short-take-off-and-vertical-landing Lockheed Martin F-35B jump jet.
The “blown-lift” technology behind Electra’s experimental hybrid-electric Goldfinch demonstrator could also be a contender, with the prototype showing ability to take-off using as little as 52m (170ft) of runway and to land with a ground roll of less than 35m. The US Army has provided Electra with funding to support development of the fixed-wing Goldfinch.
By contrast, the air force’s existing Lockheed Martin C-130J tactical transport can operate from rugged and austere airstrips and has a minimum 945m take-off roll, according to Lockheed.
The NGIA solicitation says the envisioned aircraft is intended to be used in contested logistics roles, with delivery of a prototype expected in the early 2030s.
Specific capabilities listed include airlift capability, speed, range, survivability in a contested environment and “attributes for agility in the objective area”.
As its name implies, the NGIA would be an “intra-theatre” platform, meaning it would likely only need to operate over regional distances, rather than the inter-continental capability of long-range lifters like Lockheed Martin’s C-5 Galaxy and Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster III.
The air force envisions a platform that can support its Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept of distributed operations across many small outposts and forward operating locations. “The primary mission will include intra-theatre airlift to support Agile Combat Employment (ACE) for both cluster-to-cluster and intra-cluster movement of cargo and personnel to/from unimproved surfaces and/or damaged runways,” the AFRL says of the NGIA concept.
Secondarily, the aircraft would support rapid-force projection, forward-area refuelling and “non-traditional base defence”.
The NGIA effort bears some similarity to another high-profile runway-independent aviation initiative, one that is much farther along in development
Managed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and US Special Operations Command, the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies – or Sprint – project aims to develop a VTOL aircraft that is also capable of achieving fixed-wing jet speeds. DARPA has set an airspeed target of 400-450kt (740-830km/h) for the prototype Sprint aircraft.
Rotorcraft manufacturer Bell and Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences have both advanced into the second stage of the Sprint X-plane competition, proposing radically different designs.
Aurora submitted a blended-wing-body concept that incorporates three fan-in-wing rotors integrated into the airframe to provide vertical lift. Without offering specifics, Aurora says the design “leverages existing engine solutions”, which the company says will shorten the development timeline and reduce engineering risk.
Bell opted for an evolutionary approach that builds on its success with the tiltrotor configuration. The company’s Sprint proposal takes the technology pioneered for the V-22 – and refined for the US Army’s forthcoming Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) – and adds a jet-powered flight mode.
In addition to the rotor-driven vertical and horizontal flight modes found on the V-22 and FLRAA, Bell’s tiltrotor Sprint concept would have rotorblades capable of folding into the engine nacelles for a third flight configuration optimised for long-distance and high-altitude travel.
DARPA expects to conduct a preliminary review of the two designs in the latter half of 2025, with the possibility of additional funding to support fabrication and flight testing if the concepts show feasibility.
