Has a lot in common with the multi-pod pressure-fed design of the
Microcosm Scorpius, and also with the F-15-launched satellite vehicle,
two concepts AFRL has played with but was never able to fund to
completion. See the papers from the Conference on Small Satellites on
both.
I worked a bit on the F-15, partially inspired by 1958's NOTSNIK,
before it morphed into the hopelessly impractical RASCAL (a program
which prompted a cost analyst I know to say, "They're smoking
crack.") I provided AFRL with the NOTSNIK data I accumulated in the
course of writing The First Space Race. There was a post-RASCAL AFRL
investigation into a version of the original idea, using an F-15 or
F-22, but I don't think it ever made it past the paper stage.
The air-launched, five-stage NOTSNIK, which would have worked with
some more testing and funding (rather than posting its actual record,
most likely getting one shaky orbit out of six launches), weighed
930kg and was the smallest satellite launcher to date.

Matt Bille
Author, The First Space Race: Launching the World's First Satellites
www.mattwriter.com