Ukraine has found a Russian investor for missile production
Ukrainian rocket manufacturer Yuzhmash announced the resumption of production of the Zenit launch vehicle on order from S7 Sea Launch Limited, a structure of Vladislav Filev’s S7 Group, which is mainly known as the parent company of the second largest Russian airline by traffic volume, they write "News", specifying that a total of 12 missiles have been ordered.
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“Last year, S7 Group acquired the rights to the Sea Launch floating cosmodrome. It was created specifically for launching Zenit missiles, the production of which actually ceased in 2013 (at that time Yuzhmash ran out of funds for components). Now the Dnepropetrovsk enterprise in the person of S7 has, in fact, found an investor, which, judging by the text of the press release, happened very opportunely.
“By signing this contract, a big step has been taken in overcoming the deep crisis in which Yuzhmash has been since 2013 and which was the result of a landslide reduction in production volumes,” says the official statement of the Ukrainian company. And further: “The persistent three-year work of the enterprise’s specialists to load production has borne fruit. Today, Yuzhmash’s order portfolio for the coming years exceeds $350 million.”
Historically, Yuzhmash coexists with the Dnepropetrovsk Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, the largest missile design bureau in the territory of the former USSR. According to data for 2016, 5 thousand (!) people worked there. In 2016, the issue of merging the design bureau and Yuzhmash was raised, but no decision has been made yet.
Yuzhnoye Design Bureau is the most famous developer of formidable missile weapons - the R-36M complexes that are still in service, for example, called “Voevoda” or “Satan” according to NATO classification. Of course, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau is still involved in military matters today. Periodically, information appears about the development in Yuzhny of the Grom missile system, which is similar in characteristics to the Russian Iskander and is capable of carrying a charge over 450 km. On April 12 of this year, the general designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, Alexander Degtyarev, announced at a press conference that the Grom was at the stage of “final development of the rocket.”
Tests of new models of Dnepropetrovsk rocket technology are reflected in the Ukrainian press with headlines like: “How the Ukrainian “Alder” and “Grom” will break through Putin’s “missile shield.” This is because Ukrainian journalists, just like you and me, are able to guess where and against whom new missile weapons could be used. Moreover, ballistic missiles have already been used by Ukrainian troops during the conflict in Donbass.
In this context, many people have a logical question: is it normal for a Russian company in the current conditions to finance the Dnepropetrovsk rocket industry? It can be formulated somewhat differently: do Russian air passengers want the money they pay to the carrier to go towards strengthening the Ukrainian defense industry? We are talking about very large sums - 12 Zenit carriers cost no less than $700 million.
All these questions, of course, need to be asked first of all to representatives of S7, who so far refuse to comment on the situation at all.
And Roscosmos commented on the incident promptly and quite clearly. The executive director of the state communications corporation, Igor Burenkov, told Izvestia: “We see with regret that the processes that began in 2014 did not lead to anything good. The Ukrainians themselves understand perfectly well that now they do not have the conditions to produce these missiles. And Roscosmos has no obligations to supply engines to Ukraine.”
Based on this comment, especially his last sentence, it can be assumed that Yuzhmash will not be able to make Zenits - Roscosmos will not supply the kit, and the Ukrainians will have nothing to assemble the rockets from. Zenit consists of 75% Russian parts and assemblies, including propulsion engines supplied from the Russian Federation, replacements for which are almost impossible to find.
Vladislav Filev most likely knows all this, so he could have consulted Roscosmos before signing a contract with the Ukrainian company. The owner of S7 probably realizes that in the conditions of a trade war and increasingly deteriorating relations with Ukraine, it will be quite difficult to restore interstate cooperation in terms of rocket science. Nevertheless, the agreement was concluded, and even if there are no missiles, the consequences will still occur. They cannot be called reassuring.
S7 Group today is the Russian flagship of the private sector in the space industry. Much has already been said, and much is said about the need to develop private space business in Russia. Something is being done in this direction - the Sea Launch floating cosmodrome, for example, was sold to a private company. Although the theory about the need to develop and support private space has both supporters and opponents. And this kind of contract between S7 Group and Yuzhmash is almost a trump card in the hands of those who would like to slow down the Russian private space business. Does the S7 owner, who has been avoiding giving interviews lately, understand this? You definitely need to ask him about this,” Izvestia notes.
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