DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has posted a video online that illustrates how it expects to deliver payloads of up to 100 pounds into orbit for less than $1 million, within 24 hours of call-up, using a conventional jet fighter plane that can take off from ordinary runways. In a news release last week, DARPA said it plans to conduct the first flight test of the system by the end of this year, and the first orbital launch test in the first half of 2016. The airplane would fly to a high altitude -- DARPA doesn't say how high, exactly -- and release a low-cost expendable launch vehicle that would carry the payload into orbit.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/recent-updates/business-military/darpa-plans-to-launch-satellites-from-an-airplane