This is a list of megaprojects, which may be defined as: Projects that cost more than US$1 billion and attract a large amount of public attention because of substantial impacts on communities, the natural and built environment, and budgets. Projects with "initiatives that are physical, very expensive, and public".
Some examples include bridges, tunnels, highways, railways, hospitals, airports, seaports, power plants, dams, wastewater projects, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), oil and natural gas extraction projects, public buildings, information technology systems, aerospace projects, and weapons systems. This list identifies a wide variety of examples of major historic and contemporary projects that meet one or both megaproject criteria identified above.
Legend
Aerospace projects
Airbus A380, a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by Airbus. Antonov An-225 was the longest and heaviest aircraft in service, until it was destroyed by Russia during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Only one unit was ever completed. Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the first nuclear bomber, which cost 50% more than the development of the bombs in the Manhattan Project. Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, with six decades of service as a strategic nuclear bomber, it is one of the largest military aircraft ever built. Every other bomber produced in the US after the B-52 have been megaprojects; however, it has not been replaced nor will it be in the foreseeable future. Boeing 2707 and Lockheed L-2000 supersonic aircraft projects, initiated in 1963 via a US government-funded competition to build the United States' first Supersonic Transport (SST), prototypes never built, ultimately canceled due to political, environmental and economic reasons in 1971. Boeing 747, a wide-body commercial airliner first produced in 1970, often referred to by the nickname Jumbo Jet, is among the world's most recognizable aircraft with uses for long-distance passenger transport, cargo, the US President's official shuttle plane, and as NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Boeing 787, made in the United States with local and globally sourced parts, is the first major aircraft to be made largely out of composite materials. Concorde, a supersonic passenger airliner, a product of an Anglo-French government treaty that combined the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation, first flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for twenty-seven years. Convair B-58 Hustler, an all-weather, high altitude supersonic bomber with a fixed delta wing and 4 engines. The Hustler was operational from 1960 to 1970 in the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command for the deployment of up to 5 gravity nuclear weapons. Lockheed C-5 Galaxy was the largest and heaviest aircraft of any kind for over a decade (1970 to 1982). This military cargo plane was the first development program with a billion dollar cost overrun. F-22 Raptor, a single seat, twin-engine fifth-generation fighter manufactured by Lockheed Martin that uses stealth technology. F-35 Lightning II, a single seat, single engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. Sukhoi Su-57/HAL FGFA, two variants of fifth-generation stealth fighters jointly being developed by Sukhoi and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Russian and the Indian Air Forces as a combined effort by Russia and India. Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, a US heavy bomber with "low observable" stealth. Total program cost including development, engineering, and testing averaged $2.1 billion per aircraft in 1997. KH-11 reconnaissance satellite, manufactured by Lockheed Corporation and launched between 1976 and 1990. Rockwell B-1 Lancer, a supersonic bomber with a variable-sweep wing built in the 1980s as a strategic bomber. It has since acquired conventional and multi-role capabilities. Tupolev Tu-144, the first supersonic transport aircraft, made by the Russian aircraft company Tupolev, first flown on 31 December 1968 and entered service on 26 December 1975. Tupolev Tu-160, the world's largest and heaviest combat aircraft, the world's largest supersonic aircraft, and the largest variable-sweep aircraft ever built. (The North American XB-70 Valkyrie had a higher empty weight and maximum speed but never entered production.)