Paul Duffy/MOSCOW
A Russian consortium formed to air-launch satellites has won approval from the government to convert four air force Antonov An-124s as the carrier aircraft. They will be operated by Ulyanovsk-based cargo carrier Poliot Airlines.
The aircraft will be brought up to An-124-100 standard at the Aviastar factory in Ulyanovsk and modified to carry a two-stage launch vehicle. The overhaul work and certification trials should be completed early in 2003. Entrance to the Aviastar facility will be restricted while work takes place.
The Russian scheme will rival the Orbital Sciences programme in the USA which deploys the Pegasus launcher from under the fuselage of a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. Unlike the US system, the planned Russian development will have a launch sequence involving the aircraft lowering its tail ramp at an altitude of 36,000 ft (11,000m), with the launch vehicle exiting on a parachute. Six seconds later, the first stage will fire. The satellite should be put into low earth orbit (LEO) or medium earth orbit (MEO) at a cost considerably below that of other launch methods. The first commercial launches are targeted for 2003.
The concept is similar to a scheme studied for the USAF in the 1970s by Lockheed, which envisaged dropping cruise missiles from the tail ramp of a C-5.
The Russian project has been studied for almost 10 years. In 1997, the originators, Kompomash, signed a letter of intent with Poliot to develop an air-launch system jointly. The Air Launch Aerospace Corp (ALAC) was established the following year. Shareholders in ALAC include Kompomash and Poliot, plus the Khimavtomatika Design Bureau and the BoRo Corp. Further Russian and foreign investors are being sought. The first three shareholders are contractors in the development work, as are the Makeev and Myasishchev design bureaus and three leading equipment and systems research institutes and manufacturers.
The company plans to put satellites weighing up to 4t into orbit using a Molniya launch vehicle.
Source: Flight International
