wrote:

robert arndt wrote:

Tupolev Tu-160
First Designated: "Aircraft 70" in direct response to B-1A, 1973
First Flight: Dec 19, 1981
Initial Order: 100 aircraft; 30 produced before line closed in 1992
Remaining Aircraft: Russia- 15, Ukraine- 19 original, 8 transferred to
Russia in 99/00, 3 ex-Ukrainian aircraft sold to US as satellite
launchers in 1999, rest scrapped

"Satellite launchers"? Really? Is someone actually doing this,
or even working on it? Just curious because it seems to me that
piggy-back spacecraft on aircraft is an underexploited concept.
I'm sure there are all sorts of good reasons why, but if someone
is actually doing this I'd love to see pointers to articles, etc.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.

There are some photos of a development Tu-160 at Zhukovsky with a satellite
launcher on my website at :-
http://mysite.freeserve.com/aircraft_pages/tu-160.html

Scroll down towards the bottom.

The large launcher - similar to the Orbital Sciences 'Pegasus' - was
nicknamed 'Burlak' - an old Russian name for the men who hauled barges along
the canals in olden days.

The name 'Diana' is also painted on the side.

IIRC, the proposal came to nothing........

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Ken Duffey - Flanker Freak & Russian Aviation Enthusiast
Flankers Website - http://www.flankers.co.uk/
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