On Aug 16, 3:32*am, Pat Flannery wrote:
On 8/15/2010 6:25 PM, wrote:

Well, the Pegasus rocket uses the Stargazer (a modified L-1011)
aircraft to
launch it:

http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publ...gasus_fact.pdf

Does the Army have any similar aircraft? *Or would they have to
outsource
the "mothership" job?

The military has been doing tests on a C-17A Globemaster II as a booster
launch aircraft:http://www.airlaunchllc.com/index.htm

AirLaunch LLC is, I believe, kaput.



Once it gets down to only 12 feet long, a lot of different aircraft
could theoretically carry it, including a F-15 going Mach 2 in a zoom
climb at over 60,000 feet...which would really help its total abilities
in regard to needed delta-V.
In fact, if it wasn't too heavy, a F-15 might be able to carry two aloft
at once for simultaneous launching (one from under either wing,...

Boeing has looked at an unmanned F-15 carrying a sizable solid rocket
space booster/global range strike missile on its back. The Israelies
have also looked at a similar-role but smaller multi-stage missile
carried underneath.