The development and construction of the supersonic airliner, the future Tu-144, was included in the five-year plan and was under the auspices of the influential D.F. Ustinov (then Soviet minister of defence and confidant of Brezhnev, who represented interests of defence industries lobby in opposition to the military) who regarded this mission as a personal responsibility – not so much to his country and people as to "dear Leonid Il'ych" (Brezhnev) whom he literally worshipped, sometimes to the point of shamelessness... Yet the supersonic passenger jet was apparently not making headway and, to the dismay of its curator, it looked as though Brezhnev might be disappointed. It was then that Dmitry Fedorovich (Ustinov) jumped at someone's idea to foist Aeroflot's "bride in search of a wedding" on the military. After it had been rejected in bomber guise, Ustinov used the Military Industrial Commission (one of the most influential Soviet government bodies) to promote the aircraft to the Strategic Aviation as a reconnaissance or ECM platform, or both. It was clear to me that these aircraft could not possibly work in concert with any bomber or missile carrier formation; likewise I could not imagine them operating solo as "Flying Dutchmen" in a war scenario, therefore I resolutely turned down the offer. [50] In the late 1970s, Tupolev contemplated the development of a long-range heavy interceptor (DP-2) based on the Tu-144D also able to escort bombers on long-range missions. Later this project evolved into an aircraft for electronic countermeasures (ECM) to suppress enemy radars and facilitate bomber's penetration through enemy air defenses (Tu-144PP). In the early 1980s this functionality was supplanted with theatre and strategic reconnaissance (Tu-144PR).

Along with early Tu-134s, the Tu-144 was one of the last commercial aircraft with a braking parachute. The Tu-144 was not fitted with any reverse thrust capabilities, and so the parachute was used as the sole alternative. [4] A prototype without passenger seats was fitted with ejection seats for pilots. [13] Materials a b Prisco, Jacopo (10 July 2019). "Concordski: What ever happened to Soviets' spectacular rival to Concorde?". CNN. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020 . Retrieved 15 February 2018. While several Tu-144s were donated to museums in Moscow Monino, Samara and Ulyanovsk, at least two Tu-144D remained in open storage in Moscow Zhukovsky. Early configurations of the Tu-144 were based on the unbuilt Tupolev Tu-135 bomber, retaining the latter aircraft's canard layout, wings and nacelles. Deriving from the Tu-135 bomber, Tupolev's early design for supersonic passenger airplane was code-named Tu-135P before acquiring the Tu-144 project code. [1] :8–9 [47] [48] After ceasing the Tu-144 programme, Tu-144D No. 77114 (aircraft 101 or 08-2) carried out test flights between the 13–20 July 1983 to establish 13 world records registered with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). [44] [45] These records established an altitude of 18,200 metres (59,700ft) with a range of loads up to 30 tonnes, and a sustained speed of 2,032km/h (1,263mph; 1,097kn) over a closed circuit of up to 2,000km (1,200mi; 1,100nmi) with similar loads. [ citation needed]Gordon, Yefim; Rigmant, Vladimir (2006). OKB Tupolev: A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft. Midland Publishing. ISBN 1-85780-214-4.

Reliability and developmental issues, together with repercussions of the 1973 Paris Air Show Tu-144 crash and rising fuel prices, restricted the viability of the Tu-144 for regular use. The Tu-144 was introduced into passenger service with Aeroflot between Moscow and Alma-Ata on 1 November 1977, but withdrawn less than seven months later after a new Tu-144 variant crash-landed during a test flight on 23 May 1978. The Tu-144 remained in commercial service as a cargo aircraft until the cancellation of the Tu-144 program in 1983. The Tu-144 was later used by the Soviet space program to train pilots of the Buran spacecraft, and by NASA for supersonic research until 1999. The Tu-144 made its final flight on 26 June 1999 and surviving aircraft were put on display across the world or into storage.

As part of the LEGO Icons series, the Concorde set is highly detailed, and some of its features replicate the inner workings of the famed supersonic plane.

Tu-135P - Supersonic Passenger Aircraft]. testpilot.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 29 September 2023 . Retrieved 31 July 2011. Early flights in scheduled service indicated the Tu-144S was extremely unreliable. [ citation needed] During 102 flights and 181 hours of freight and passenger flight time, the Tu-144S suffered more than 226 failures, 80 of them in flight. [20] :197–199 Eighty of these failures were serious enough to cancel or delay the flight. [ citation needed] a b c Reshetnikov, V. (2004). "Что было – то было"[What was – was] (in Russian). Militera.lib.ru. Archived from the original on 25 September 2009 . Retrieved 31 July 2011. Over the course of the Tu-144 project, the Tupolev bureau created designs of a number of military versions of Tu-144 but none were ever built. In the early 1970s, Tupolev was developing the Tu-144R intended to carry and air-launch up to three solid-fueled ICBMs. The launch was to be performed from within Soviet air space, with the aircraft accelerating to its maximum speed before releasing the missiles. The original design was based on the Tu-144S, but later changed to be derived from the Tu-144D. Another version of the design was to carry air-launched long-range cruise missiles similar to the Kh-55. The study of this version envisioned the use of liquid hydrogen for the afterburners.