Design, Develop Full System For World’s Largest Cargo Carrier

Astronautics Corporation of America announced the signing of an agreement with Radia to design and develop a complete avionics system solution for the Radia Windrunner cargo aircraft.

The Windrunner is the largest aircraft – by volume – ever built and is designed for large-scale logistics in locales with limited infrastructure to serve energy, aerospace and defense, and emergency response missions.

Eytan Saletsky, Director of System Solutions for Astronautics said, “The opportunity to work collaboratively with Radia on the avionics architecture for their one-of-a-kind WindRunner aircraft is an exciting project for all of us at Astronautics. We look forward to applying our avionics products and system integration expertise to a platform that will reshape global aerospace logistics.”

The Windrunner is still under development and will measure 356 feet from nose to end, with a cargo bay capacity of 271,922 cubic feet. In comparison, the Antonov An-225 had a length of 276 feet and cargo bay capacity of 46,000 cubic feet. The WindRunner has 12 times the cargo volume of a Boeing 787.

The aircraft was originally designed to carry large blades for wind turbines, but now the industry in general is taking a closer look at it as a potential transport aircraft for satellites and armored vehicles as well. The only limitation is that the cargo weight cannot exceed 72.6 metric tons, or 72,575 kg / 160,000 lbs.

FMI:  www.astronautics.com/ , radia.com/