Taking off together

High Speed Civil Transport, a joint US-Russian project to test Russia's supersonic airplane, the TU-144L on which future concords are to be modelled is underway at the Tupolev aviation complex in Russia. NASA is paying the complex US $10m for trial flights and equipment. A number of other aeronautics companies are also participating in the project. Russia's expertise in building supersonics goes back to 1968, when she flew the world's first supersonic plane. So Western companies are hoping to take a significant step forward in aviation with Russian help. This project promises to rejuvenate the laid off Russian aviation industry and improve the plight of workers by providing both money and technology.