DARPA has launched a new “Liberty Lifter” program to design, build and test a highly-efficient wing-in-ground effect aircraft for transporting “very large, heavy loads” over long distances without runways. Prototypes could fly as early as 2027.

The wing-in-ground effect has seen a bit of a mini revival over the last few years. There are a few players trying to get ground effect vehicles (GEVs) into commercial circulation – notably Singapore’s Wigetworks, with its Airfish-8 and Boston’s Regent, which has drawn in considerable funding and pre-sales to build a prototype of its fully electric, 12-passenger Viceroy seagliders.

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All of these aircraft, as well as the Liberty Lifter and Russia’s famous WW2 Ekranoplan program, aim to make use of a neat bit of physics: when a plane flies very close to the ground – at an altitude less than half of its own wingspan – it can ride on a cushion of high-pressure air between the wing and the surface, gaining additional lift while reducing lift-induced drag. This can make these things extremely efficient – flying at an altitude around 5 percent of the wingspan can get you from A to B up to 2.3 times more efficiently.

Read more: New Atlas