Patent ID: 8608110

Claim:
An aircraft for transporting a plurality of cargo containers comprising: a forward fairing; an empennage; a spine disposed between the forward fairing and the empennage; and a cargo assembly configured to be structurally and detachably integrated with the spine, the cargo assembly comprising a plurality of cargo containers of the same or of different sizes, the plurality of cargo containers each comprising a plurality of attachment points to structurally integrate adjacent cargo containers to one another to provide rigidity to the resulting cargo assembly; wherein the spine has a lightweight structure such that the aircraft has sufficient rigidity to withstand bending and tortional loads in flight when unloaded with the cargo assembly; wherein the spine has insufficient rigidity to itself withstand bending and tortional loads in flight when loaded with the cargo assembly; and wherein the cargo assembly provides additional rigidity to the spine required for the aircraft to fully withstand bending and tortional loads in flight when the cargo assembly is structurally integrated with the spine.