Interesting twist on air launching small sats. Apparently this platform will provide a positive delta-V for the launch.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/12 ... atellites/

Fantastic concept.

Isn't this the same thing as Stratolaunch? (whatever happened to that?)

All launch systems provide positive delta-v, unless you put the rocket on backwards. The manned systems mentioned in the article provide a positive delta-v over a launch starting from zero altitude and zero speed. But, because the rocket falls away from the airplane for a small period of time before the rocket fires, the rocket loses some of the energy it had at release. The Ravn apparently flies a profile that avoids this energy loss between release and rocket ignition. I think the notion that Ravn “provides positive delta-v” while manned systems “start with negative delta-v” is twisting the semantics to an extraordinary degree for marketing purposes.

There have been a few anti-satellite weapons that are launched from fighters in a ballistic climb profile. I am wondering ...is this simply a cover story for a black program (anti-sat weapon system)?

Could be. The article says DoD is interested. The ability to launch out of any 5,000-foot runway with only Jet-A and an oxidizer creates a huge number of launch sites. That flexibility would allow insertion into almost any kind of orbit and the launch would be difficult to detect by the other side. With a supply of reconnaissance satellites packed and ready to go, this thing could potentially put eyes on any place on the planet in a few hours. You bet DoD is interested.