The joint Russian-US high-speed-research study programme moved into the flight-test stage on 29 November, when the re-activated Tupolev Tu-144LL (RA-77114) supersonic transport departed from Zhukovsky flight-test centre.
The aircraft, one of 17 Tu-144s built, was completed in 1981. It was also one of five "D" models which had the more-efficient Kolesov variable-bypass engine instead of the original Kuznetsov NK-144.
The Tu-144 had been in storage for some ten years before the re-activation programme, which included the replacement of the Kolesov engine with the Kuznetsov NK-321 turbojet, which powers the Tupolev Tu-160.
Some 32 flights are scheduled to be undertaken in Russia during the six-month flight-test programme, during which data from six experiments will be collected. The US industry team is led by Boeing with McDonnell Douglas, Rockwell, Pratt & Whitney and General Electric participating.
Source: Flight International
