At AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Radia announced WindRunner for Defense, an ultra-large air cargo aircraft purpose-built to solve U.S. and allied defense departments’ outsized airlift gap. Optimized around volume, not just weight, WindRunner delivers intact, mission-ready systems to austere or degraded locations, accelerating Agile Combat Employment (ACE) and giving joint and combined forces more options.

“Strategic mobility buys time and space for the force,” said Mark Lundstrom, Founder & CEO of Radia. “WindRunner was designed to move full systems, such as long-range radars, tiltrotors, CCAs, mobile hospitals, and other complex, oversized assets, without disassembly, without special infrastructure, and without slowing operations. We’re not replacing the legends that have carried the load for decades; we’re reinforcing them with a commercially fielded capability that can surge when and where commanders need it, for ministries of defense worldwide.”

Why Now

Modern joint capabilities frequently run out of space before they run out of lift. Moving current and future equipment with today’s largest military airlifters, such as the C-5, C-17, or A400M, often requires disassembly, rerouting, or specialized facilities. This inability to move fully assembled cargo can slow timelines, increase vulnerability, and complicate contested-environment logistics, especially across austere or infrastructure-limited environments where U.S. and allied forces operate.

WindRunner for Defense: Key Capabilities

- Transformational Volume; Roll-on/Roll-off Ready: Approximately 7× the volume of a C-5 and 12× the volume of a C-17 (greater than 6,800 m³), enabling roll-on/roll-off delivery of full systems ready to operate on arrival.

- Moves entire mission-ready loads – like 6 x CH-47 Chinooks without any disassembly or reassembly.

- Special Operations Direct Delivery – the only outsized airlifter that can carry 4 x CV-22 Ospreys directly to the fight.

- Fighter Delivery, Relief for Tankers – delivers 4 x F-16s or 4 x F-35Cs with no air refueling required.

- Force multiplier that closes out unit moves fastest – carries 12 x Apache Helicopters (vs 2 x Apache Helicopters on a C-17).

- Responsive Space Force Support: Enables booster movements in hours instead of days, and recovery of landed rocket cargo vehicles for re-use.

- Operates Where Others Can’t: Short takeoff and landing from ~1,800-meter unpaved runways, reaching distributed, austere, or storm-damaged locations inaccessible to conventional aircraft.

- Fully compatible with standard ground equipment: No specialized loaders or bespoke facilities necessary.

- Minimizes total flight hours: WindRunner moves complete systems faster, cutting operational complexity, cost, and exposure to disruption or attack.

- Targeting 2030 Takeoff: Employs certified, proven components with a development approach targeting first flight by the end of the decade.

- Mission Flexibility: Well-suited for combat sustainment, NATO/Allied mobility, Arctic operations, and rapid humanitarian/disaster response.

WindRunner is designed to complement aging but indispensable airlift fleets by extending their strategic impact while filling a critical capacity gap in outsized cargo. By offloading volume-dominated missions and enabling ACE and distributed basing concepts, WindRunner helps ensure freedom to maneuver across the Indo-Pacific, Arctic, and European geographies.