More on Rogozin's Plan for the Russian Aerospace Industry

Russia’s deputy prime minister tasked with overseeing the defense industry, Dmitry Rogozon, is also billed as the country’s “space Tsar,” and he is presently turning his attention to large-scale sectorial reorganization to boost the Russian space sector’s competitiveness. On October 9, Rogozin briefed his close friend President Vladimir Putin and offered reassurance that all is going according to plan. The overall aim, according to Rogozin is to consolidate the Russian space sector in an open joint stock company known as United Rocket and Space Corporation while preserving the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos).

This “plan” seems to have emerged from Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during a meeting with Rogozin on June 11. The latter considered that the “failure prone” space sector needed state supervision to overcome its problems. Russia employs around 250,000 workers in the space sector, while the United States has approximately 70,000. Yet, the comparison in terms of productivity is striking: senior officials acknowledge that it is eight times lower than in the US due to the existence of so much duplication in the Russian system.

Rogozin told Putin that Roscosmos will remain as the federal executive, “acting as system integrator and state purchaser for the programs that industry will carry out.” Designers and manufacturers of rockets and other space technology will be united under a single corporation. Research and infrastructure will remain under Roscosmos’s responsibility, and everything else will be transferred to the rocket and space corporation. However, the key problem will be addressing the component base. Rogozin explained: “The various [core] components make up 95 percent of any satellite. In order to avoid depending on component imports—and we both know that this is a highly competitive sector and some countries apply export controls that essentially make it impossible to import all the necessary components—the new system would enable us to concentrate resources and scientific potential on developing our own component base for space and defense needs, that is, areas where [radiation]-resistant equipment is needed”

Putin wanted assurances from Rogozin that such restructuring will “establish an organization capable of working successfully in the market and carrying out our defense procurement orders.” Rogozin appeared convinced that the new model will combine civilian and defense potential.

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