An illustration shows how the Windrunner plane can carry smaller aircraft like load
The US is building the largest plane in the world, the Windrunner – originally designed to carry huge wind turbine blades. However, the US Army is studying another type of power outputs for the plane.
O Windrunnercurrently under development by the company Radia, in Colorado (USA), will have a wingspan of 80 metros and a length of 108 metros.
These dimensions correspond approximately to the maximum dimensions of a Football Field (90 × 120 meters).
This plane was originally conceived to be able to deliver a 100 -meter -long turbine blades to remote wind farms. However, the US Armed Forces admit that their load capacity could have other uses.
As mentioned, in, Kenneth Bibb Jr.vice president of defense business development in the radia, “such a massive plane could complement the aged fleet of transport aircraft From the US Air Force, including the C-17 Globemaster III and the C-5 Galaxy, which Bible commanded when he was Major General of the Air Force.
By comparison, this plane will carry about 12 times more load volume than a Boeing 747 and a maximum payload of 72 575 kilograms.
As it writes, the US Department of Defense has signed an agreement with the radia to study how Windrunner could carry military load, such as vehicles, large equipment, and even smaller aircraft, such as F-16 fighters and the V-22 OSPrey combat plane. However, the Army is not yet financed the development of the Windrunner.
This plane will also have a special capacity to land on short and unpaid tracks, “providing flexibility in times of humanitarian and combat crisis,” said Bible.
The detail that the proposed range for Windrunner is 2000 kilometers with a complete payload – which could be useful for shorter air transport missions between military air bases that have typical paved tracks in North America, South America or Europe.
