MOSCOW. (Yuri Zaitsev for RIA Novosti) -...

The Ishim project being implemented on orders from the government of Kazakhstan involves Russia"s Aircraft Corporation MiG, which develops a mother plane, and the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering, which undertakes to develop a space rocket. The institute has won a reputation for its Topol-M inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and the Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). For its part, the national company Kazkosmos of Kazakhstan plans to use the country"s Sary-Shagan anti-ballistic missile testing range for commercial launches.

Experts studied the possibility of aerial ICBM launches for enhancing missile survivability during the Cold War. The idea was to keep strategic missile carriers airborne over Soviet territory in case of a possible enemy attack; they were supposed to launch a retaliatory second strike if war broke out.

The Soviet Union developed the RSM-25 (SS-N-6) strategic air-launched missile for the Antonov An-22 Antheus (Cock) cargo

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