Russian Space Agency cut off from French technologies
The French company, which supplied the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos with parts for satellites, unexpectedly refused to continue the supplies of the components, announced the Managing Director of Science and Technology, Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Council of Rostec State Corporation Yuri Koptev.
"We started producing spacecraft that used the component base of our respected foreign colleagues. Just two months ago, a French firm that supplied vacuum lamps to one of the subsidiaries of the state corporation Roscosmos, notified us that it is halting the supplies," RIA Novosti quoted Koptev as saying.
Accorfing to him, alternative production of these parts was quickly started at one of Rostec's enterprises in Saratov.
Roscosmos plans to become completely independent of importing the parts by 2025, said Roscosmos Head Dmitry Rogozin.
"We pay a lot of attention to import-independence when carrying out space activities. We plan that by 2025 we will ensure almost complete independence in this case," Rogozin said at a meeting in Murmansk chaired by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
Roscosmos will have to learn how to produce components that were previously purchased abroad amid the budget cuts.
As part of the sequester of the federal treasury, the allocation for Roscosmos, which is responsible for both civil space and defense missile programs in Russia, is planned to be cut by 60 billion rubles.
Each year, the space industry will receive 20 billion rubles less from the federal budget, which remains the main source of income for Roscosmos, which is rapidly losing market share in commercial space launches.
In 2021, it is planned to reduce by 1.7 billion rubles the budget for the program "Priority innovative projects of the rocket and space industry," which finances, among other things, the creation of new launch vehicles and the creation of advanced space technologies.
In 2022-23, the appropriations in this area will be reduced by 2.532 billion rubles.