Re: If they really want to make a profit...
I agree. Somebody's gotta be thinking along these lines. Actually, I think that there's signifigant potential for expansion *from* the existing Soyuz plans. I've long speculated that the combination of the Angara booster, improved materials engineering on the Soyuz (composites and so forth), weight savings which would come from modern avionics systems, and inflatable re-entry technology-- all this could coalesce in exactly the type of vehicle you're talking about. And Russia already has the technology to pull ALL of it off.