A model of the air-launched SLV displayed during the Zhuhai Air Show (Click to enlarge)
China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation (CASIC) began the preliminary study on an air-launched, all-solid-propellant, three-stage launch vehicle in 2000. The launch vehicle can place a 50kg payload into earth orbits, and potentially can be developed into an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon system.
During the 2006 Zhuhai Air Show, CASIC revealed a mockup of its air-launched vehicle system, which features a pair of gliding wings in the mid-section and three stabilising fins at the bottom of the vehicle’s first stage.
According to the introduction by CASIC, the vehicle will be carried by a large jet aircraft (possibly a modified Xi’an H-6 bomber) under the fuselage and is released at an altitude of about 10,000m. The total launch mass of the vehicle is 13t. The launch vehicle may have been derived from the KT-1 solid-propellant launch vehicle design.
