Moscow (AFP) - Firms based in Russia and Australia are jointly developing a system for launching small satellites from a high-altitude airplane carrying a cheap, disposable rocket, Interfax news agency said Tuesday.

The project, being developed by Russia's Myasishchev Experimental Engineering Plant and Australia's Technoimport Company, will cost around 200 million dollars and is expected to complete the research and development phase within three years, the agency said.

Use of an M-55 Geofizika aircraft to carry the satellite and booster rocket to high altitudes before launch will dramatically reduce the cost of launching satellites as no space launch factility is needed and no massive rockets will be required.

"The M-55 Geofizika aircraft would become the basis for a flying space center," the report quoted Valery Novikov, chief designer of the Myasishchev plant as saying.