Construction of some satellites in Russia will be postponed by 2-3 years due to sanctions
Due to the fact that about 75% of electronic parts for satellites are imported by Russia mainly from the USA, the sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation by the West may provoke delay in implementing certain projects.
The delay may last several years. This was announced by Nikolay Testoedov, CEO of the Information Satellite Systems, in his interview to RBC.
The CEO of the company said that 25-75% of electronic components for Russian satellites were imported. It concerns specifically radioelements, i.e. there are fewer of them in the military satellites and more in the commercial ones. Within the total imported products of Russia, the US share amounts to near 83-87%.
Testoedov emphasized that the reason for that was not the large-scale US market, but the fact that the company only opted for the best latest functional components.
He pointed out that those satellites constructed and launched in 2015 were completely assembled, not requiring further perfection, but as for the vehicles that Russia planed to launch approximately in 4 years, the company had been actually designed them without using critical parts.
The ISS CEO noted that the situation turned out most complicated for the satellites scheduled to be constructed in 2016 and 2017.
In view of this, according to Testoedov, the implementation of some projects will be postponed for several years. The CEO explained that it was necessary to search for replacements, to purchase components, to design and to manufacture a new device by using those details, then to run testing, and just after that it would be possible to install them in the satellite.
The CEO said that the actual supply significantly exceeded the demand on the satellite market, as the equipment would serve much longer than before.
Testoedov clarified that if it was required a constellation of 11 satellites for the country’s television and communications needs, and each vehicle served for 3 years, it would be necessary to construct just only 11 satellites every 3 years. At the same time Russia actually constructs satellites that serve for 15 years. Previous satellites ensured just 8 TV broadcastings, and now we can speak about thousands of channels. That is why, according to Testoedov, the number of constructed satellites has significantly decreased, but the number of operators ordering vehicles has not changed too much.
