Planes are incredible pieces of technology, and if you stop to think about the fact that it hasn’t even been 125 years since the Wright Brothers made their famous first flight, the progress made is amazing. Today, thousands of planes fly all around the world, bringing people to destinations that would have been impossible throughout most of human history.

While today’s planes are great, many of those in development for the future are set to be even better. As of today, the largest plane ever built was the Antonov An-225 Mriya, which is a Soviet-era craft that was 84 meters (274 feet) long and had a massive wingspan of 88.4 meters (290 feet). That plane was destroyed in 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the battle of Antonov Airport.

Radia is a Colorado-based aviation company that is looking to break the record for the largest plane ever with its planned WindRunner craft, which is set to be 108 meters (354 feet) long with a wingspan of 80 meters (262 feet). It will have the ability to carry 12 times the cargo that the popular Boeing 747 craft has at max capacity.

This plane isn’t being designed for passengers, though. Instead, they are designing it specifically to be able to load and transport wind turbines. These turbines are extremely large and difficult to transport because they are ridged, making it hard for trucks to maneuver through tight turns or narrow tunnels. In addition, wind farms are typically built out away from major cities, which means they have to be transported a long way.

In addition to being large enough to handle this unique cargo, the WindRunner craft is being made to be able to take off and land on runways that are relitively small, making it possible to bring the turbines to remote wind farm locations.

With the growing demand for wind turbines, this plane may be able to help build up the green energy capabilities that are needed. Mark Lundstorm is the founder and CEO of Radia, and said in a statement about this plane:

“Radia will create a step-function improvement for onshore wind in profitability, lower cost, and higher consistency. This will result in more wind projects, more green fuel projects, lower energy price, more profits, and more money being invested in the energy transition.”

Some critics question whether wind farms are really environmentally friendly if they require specialized planes to be built and used to transport the massive blades. If this plane can only carry 1-3 blades at a time, enough for one wind turbine, it will require a lot of fuel to set up a full wind farm. The turbines will then have to generate enough electricity to offset the emissions created via their creation and transportation. Whether they can do that or not has yet to be seen.

Regardless of their environmental impact, this plane is set to break records, and there is already interest in it from the US Department of Defense. The DoD has already reached out to the company and wants to work with them on potential uses to bring large military equipment to locations where they are needed.

While this plane isn’t set to reach production until 2027, and it is not known how long it will take to go through all the testing that will be needed for it to make regular flights, this is a very promising step forward. Large planes like this do operate more efficiently per pound of cargo than smaller ones, so this is an important step forward.

If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.