MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Kislyakov.)
On July 25, the government commission on the defense industry approved a draft concept on creating the Information Satellite Systems (ISS) Corporation drawn up by the Federal Space Agency. This is the first step towards fulfilling the federal space program for 2006-2015 and the government-approved restructuring of the industry.
"Russia's space program should be fully competitive," said Agency head Anatoly Perminov, who presented the 2006-2015 program at the cabinet session last week.
The cabinet noted a need to reinforce "Russia's positions on the global market of space technologies and services, promote the creation of remote sensing receiving equipment, and ensure the environmental safety of space technology." None of this can be done without restructuring the space industry.
The creation of Information Satellite Systems was the first step. ISS will incorporate ten companies, with the Zheleznogorsk-based Reshetnev research and production association of applied mechanics as the parent enterprise (Eastern Siberia).
"All companies incorporated in the System will become subsidiaries, without losing the status of a legal entity," Agency spokesman Vyacheslav Davidenko said. "After privatization, the corporation will have the organizational and legal form of a 100% federally owned, open-ended, joint-stock company. Next on the agenda is the incorporation of companies that produce spacecraft engines."
