Russia abandons successful Rokot launch vehicles due to Ukraine's refusal to maintain them
Moscow - Kyiv, February 12 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - Russia will have to end the use of Rokot launch vehicles due to Ukraine’s refusal to supply a control system for the Briz-KM upper stages, they report "News" with reference to Roscosmos. Rokot launch vehicles are constantly used to launch spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
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On March 3, the last launch of Rokot will take place from the Plesetsk cosmodrome and these rocket systems will no longer be used, said an informed source in Roscosmos. Ukrainian authorities have prohibited the Khartron company from supplying equipment to Russia that could be used in military programs. Control systems for upper stages for Rokots were also banned.
Rokot carriers are constantly used to launch spacecraft in the interests of the Ministry of Defense: for example, they are used to launch the Rodnik communications satellites of the GRU of the General Staff of the Russian Federation. It was “Rokot” that in May last year launched into orbit the “killer satellite” that thundered throughout the world - the newest secret experimental device “Cosmos-2499”, performing maneuvers in space. With the help of the Rokots, it was also planned to further launch satellites of the Gonets system into orbit.
The main advantage of the Rokot is its relative cheapness: the RS-18B ballistic missile is removed from combat duty and adapted for space needs.
“Cooperation in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense on the Rokot project between the Ukrainian company Khartron and the Khrunichev Center has indeed been terminated,” official representative of the Khrunichev Center Alexander Shmygov told Izvestia. The interlocutor at Roscosmos explained that today three Briz-KM upper stages have already been delivered to the Russian Federation, but launching without the participation of Khartron representatives will be problematic - it is the Ukrainian colleagues who must enter the flight mission into the system.
Khrunichev refused to discuss the possibility of operating the Rokots without the participation of Khartron representatives. But gThe newspaper recalls that Roscosmos is reducing its dependence on Ukrainian suppliers. In January of this year, a decision was made to abandon the purchase of Dnepr launch vehicles produced at the Dnepropetrovsk Yuzhmash, and a decision was made to complete the Dnepr rocket launch program.
“This is not the first time that Ukrainian enterprises have refused to cooperate on military programs,” says military expert Alexey Ramm. “Recently, they have refused to supply us with propulsion and power plants for patrol ships, and have also stopped selling small gas turbine engines for cruise missiles.”
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