In an effort to save money, the Pentagon is proposing to launch satellites into orbit using … cheaper rockets?

Nope.

Fighter jets.

According to Bradford Tousley, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office, the plan is called Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (or ALASA, in case you were still hungry for acronyms) and is based on engineers designing a launch vehicle that can be carried by an F-15. The jet would take off and get the vehicle to an altitude high enough that it could separate from the aircraft and use its own rocket boosters to enter the Earth’s atmosphere on its own.

The Boeing Company is the primary contract for the project and they, along with DARPA, hope to be delivering satellites under 100 pounds within a day’s notice for under $1 million sometime in the next few years.

The first flight — a demonstration — is scheduled for the end of this year with 12 “orbital tests” to follow in 2016.

Check out DARPA’s concept video above.

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