The economic indicators of Ukrainian rocket and space industry enterprises are getting worse from year to year, since Ukraine does not create demand for space products, and there are no tools to attract international investment, Vladimir Usov, former head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SCAU) and director of the private company Kurs Orbital, said in an interview with Defense Express.
The expert called the Dnipro design Bureau (KB) Yuzhnoye and the Yuzhmash plant, which in Soviet times were engaged in the creation of ballistic missiles, as well as the Kharkov Kommunar and Hartron, the flagships of the Ukrainian rocket and space industry. The specialist noticed that the first two employ five thousand employees, 80 percent of whom are not involved in commercial projects.
"Therefore, people who say that it is necessary to revive the greatness of the Ukrainian space are engaged in profanity and PR. Because the Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash design bureaus were created in the USSR for specific tasks - to contribute to the destruction of the United States. Huge resources were thrown at this, which made it possible to produce more than a hundred missiles a year. For understanding, today this is the entire volume of space launches in the world," Usov admitted.
In his opinion, Ukrainian enterprises of the rocket and space industry should be modernized and restructured to meet the realities of the international market. "Yuzhnoye Design Bureau cannot be a design bureau employing 5,000 people, which makes it the largest design bureau in the world, especially in a country that designs almost nothing for space," Usov said.
The expert noted that currently the Ukrainian rocket and space industry is "holding on" to several international projects (cooperation with the United States on Antares missiles and with the EU on Vega carriers), which will be curtailed in the current decade.
According to Usov, Ukraine should engage in the commercialization of the space industry and cooperation with NASA on the Artemis lunar program. The expert considered that the country needs its own satellite grouping and a means of launching comic devices that can use air launch technology.
In September, during a meeting held by the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine — Minister for Strategic Industries Oleg Urusky with the participation of the head of the SCAU Vladimir Taftai, held at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, it was confirmed that work on the Earth remote sensing satellite "sIch-2-30" is proceeding in accordance with the previously approved schedule. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in December on an American Falcon 9 rocket.
Ivan Potapov