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Flap over Military Satellites
Gen. Col. Vladimir Popovkin, commander of the Russian aerospace forces, expressed concern on Friday about the Russian aerospace industry and its ability to produce high-quality intelligence apparatus in a timely manner. “We have only two or three intelligence complexes,” he said. “If you count how many enterprises we have that are engaged in intelligence work, space ought to be full of equipment. There's the Progress Central Specialized Design Bureau, Lavochkin Scientific Production Assoc., the Energy Corp., the Heavy Equipment Scientific Production Assoc. and the Arsenal Design Bureau. The Applied Mechanics Scientific Production Assoc. wants to enter the sector. That's six enterprises, and we have fewer complexes than producers.”
Independent analysts say that the Russian defense Ministry currently has one Cosmos-2421 military intelligence satellite, launched a year and a half ago. In addition, the civilian Resource-DK1 remote earth-sensing satellite can be used for military purposes. The last military optical intelligence satellite, the Cobalt-M (Cosmos-2427) went out of service last August. The launch of a new Persona military optical satellite was announced last year, but it has not yet taken place. Popovkin also spoke of problems with quality, which he described as “alarming.”
Observers attribute the difficulties the Russian space industry is now facing to the consequences of the financial crisis of the 1990s. It has not received a basic overhaul in almost 20 years and has trouble attracting qualified personnel because of the low pay it offers. The military is, nonetheless, expected to receive several effective space intelligence complexes in the next year or two, if budget increases continue. According to unofficial information, financing of the space industry has been increasing at 15-20 percent per year since 2005.
by
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 28, 2008
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