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Tuesday, 15 July 2008

What is this?


H/T 45 Govt

19 comments:

arabic58 said...

Russian airplane.
cargo conversion
Bear bomber?

Anonymous said...

Early AWACS?

Minicapt said...

VM-T "Atlant"-
"In the late 1970s a single 3M bomber was converted to transport outsized components for the Energiya-Buran space launch system from the manufacturing facility to the Baikonur launch site. The cargo, including propellant tanks and the Buran orbiter itself, were placed on external mounting points located above the fuselage."

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/bomber/m-4.htm

Cheers

Scott said...

Myasishchev VM-T Heavy lift vehicle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myasishchev_VM-T

Anonymous said...

It's a VM-T 'Atlant' - more here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myasishchev_VM-T

and here

http://www.englishrussia.com/?p=1374

Anonymous said...

Highly modified Soviet "Bison". Designed to transport their Space Shuttle. Only used once. No idea what the tank is about.

Anonymous said...

Vodka delivery for Boris Yeltsin when he ran their show.

Anonymous said...

Really skinny airplane with a giant white thing on top.

Anonymous said...

Modified Bison bomber?

from WWW.FAS.ORG
'3M-T / BM-T "Atlant" -- In the late 1970s a single 3M bomber was converted to transport outsized components for the Energiya-Buran space launch system from the manufacturing facility to the Baikonur launch site. The cargo, including propellant tanks and the Buran orbiter itself, were placed on external mounting points located above the fuselage. This particular aircraft had a strengthened fuselage, a longer two-fin tail and a new flight control system. The original designation of the aircraft was 3M-T but was subsequently changed to BM-T "Atlant". The first flight took place on April 29, 1981 and the first flight with freight in January, 1982. The plane carried out a total of 150 flights.'

Anonymous said...

Weird airplane.

Extensive web search indicates it is a Myasishchev VM-T Atlant.

http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/vvs/vmt-01.htm

rhhardin said...

I wonder if it handles on the ground like a tail-dragger. The CG seems to be aft of the main gear.

Anonymous said...

My initial thought was something used to transport Russian space equipment. (Think American shuttle orbiter on the back of a 747).

But when I look closer at the picture something about it makes me think "photoshop"... Like the green struts...

richard mcenroe said...

OK, worst sonar installation EVER.

Anonymous said...

Barack Force One. The pod on top is required to accomodate his ego.

steveH said...

Myasistchev V-MT, derived from the Myasistchev 3M, which was derived from the Myasistchev Mya-4 Bison bomber. It was used, for example, for the Soviet Buran space shuttle development program.

The pod on top was for carrying outsized cargo, and there were different versions of the pod, such as the one shown here:

http://www.aviation.ru/Mya/VM-T.gif

Myasistchev's later designs tended to favor high-altitude recon and bomber aircraft.

All the bomber variants were scrapped according to the START treaty, a few tankers were retained, and all three of the V-MT cargo models were kept.

Mike Stajduhar said...

Russian AWACS

Anonymous said...

Methane powered.

Brian said...

Isn't that Mork's egg spaceship?

.....CLIFFORD said...

"An airplane landed in Los Angeles today carrying the first of Pam Anderson's new Russian-made breast implants."