Putin approves plans to set up united aerospace corporation

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the plan to set up a united aerospace corporation on the premises of the Russian Scientific Research Institute of Space Instrument Making. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has submitted the plan to the president at a meeting between them at the Russian presidential countryside residence on Wednesday. “We have considered a systemic project, which had been submitted by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and came to the following conclusions: we propose to leave Roscosmos as a body of federal executive authorities that will perform the functions of a systemic integrator and state contractor of those programs, which the production industries are to implement,” Rogozin noted, adding that this will require to specify the goals of Roscosmos’ activity, powers, functional duties and a stronger potential of its staff. “As for the space industry, our proposal is to consolidate the developers and producers of main types of spacecrafts within a united aerospace corporation, which can be established as an open joint stock society,” Rogozin added. In his words, this scheme will allow pursuing a common technological policy in a future corporation and load the capacities of the enterprise. “These capacities are loaded by about 40%, therefore, some problems with salaries and contracts exist. The consolidation of the space industry, mobilization of industrial resource in line with the development of competitiveness and design ideas can bring an effect that we need,” Rogozin, who is in charge of the space industry in the government, said with confidence. The president asked Rogozin about the proposals related with industrial production rather than the bureaucratic aspect of this affair. “We have discussed several variants and finally agreed on one of them. How is this variant being fulfilled or how is it expected to fulfill it?” Putin asked “Vladimir Vladimirovich, this variant envisages cross financing of the projects, which are linked with the fulfillment of the state defense order and the implementation of the civil space program,” the deputy prime minister pledged. “We propose to speed up the process, set up a united aerospace corporation on the premises of the Russian Scientific Research Institute of Space Instrument Making,” Rogozin said, presenting the scheme of a new organizational structure of the aerospace industry to the president. He noted that this scientific research institute is an organization that already exists, it has needed assets to place the shares of enterprises of the aerospace industry particularly in this institute. The Russian deputy prime minister noted that specific institutes and organizations of the ground-based space infrastructure are proposed to leave within the direct authority of Roscosmos. “So, everything is transferred, expect for science and infrastructure,” he added. The president recalled about the concerns that such a big industry will be managed poorly and will not be quite mobile. The deputy prime minister pledged that “to make it manageable it should be get rid of the simultaneous work on the same issues.” “Today, unfortunately, different enterprises of our aerospace industry are concentrated in ten (integrated) structures, there are many organizations, which operate beyond their framework as independent,” Rogozin said. “Each of them works according to its own plan, each of them uses its own element base, so, universal technical and technological solutions are not in view,” he added. The deputy prime minister is convinced that making the structure of the aerospace industry universal will help pursuing a common technological policy. Meanwhile, he recalled that the main problem is an element and component base. “Today any satellite is an element base by 95%. Not to depend from the foreign imports of the element base this system will help us to concentrate the resources and scientific potential to launch our own production of element base in space and military spheres that is used as radio-resistant equipment, as we and you understand it quite well, the competition in this sphere is very tough and some countries actually do not permit us to import all required components in conditions of export control,” Rogozin believes. Putin noted that this step would allow creating a structure, which would operate successfully on the market and would perform the tasks in the state defense order. The deputy prime minister replied that many developments in the aerospace industry have dual purpose, “We witness this in U.S., European programs etc. In fact, this is open secret that our several apparatuses and devices can also operate in different spheres and with different purposes.” He set as an example the global satellite navigation system GLONASS, “which certainly has an enormous civilian market, but is also of serious defensive importance.” “The scheme that we proposed and which we supported then is aimed at the fulfillment of these tasks - the combination of civilian and defensive potentials,” Dmitry Rogozin added.