Import substitution on a space scale: Director General of RSCC Alexey Volin spoke about the strategic need to upgrade the Russian satellite constellation

RSCC plans to replace eight satellite by 2030, one of which, Express-AMU4, is already under development. Gazprom Space Systems also has two devices that are approaching the end of their useful life and need to be replaced. Director General of Russian Satellite Communications Company spoke about this at the SATCOMRUS 2023 conference. This task is not only strategically important for the country, but can also be completely solved by domestic manufacturers.

“Firstly, over the past year, we have seen that the situation on the market of Russian satellite manufacturers is quite optimistic. During our work on Express-AMU4, we have been convinced that the domestic industry is capable of producing any necessary satellites. Secondly, we hope that by the end of this year the plant of Gazprom AIT Facility LLC will begin operating. Therefore, we even have good competition in our market,” noted Alexey Volin. He added that RESHETNEV JSC and Gazprom AIT Facility LLC had collectively involved about 30 Russian enterprises, moreover, the possibility of attracting Chinese partners was considered – not for key positions and on Russian terms.

“We hope that as a result of the current competition, the production time for devices will decrease from 50 to 36 months. We are also already working to reduce the price of the spacecraft by about 30%. We expect that the onboard power will be increased from 6 to 8 kW, and the payload weight will be reduced,” concluded Director General of RSCC.