MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry is planning to launch military and dual-purpose spacecraft exclusively from Russian territory starting from late 2009, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Sergei Ivanov announced on Monday.
Ivanov will preside over a Monday session of the governmental military-industrial commission expected to focus on the strategic development of the domestic missile and space industry until 2015 and progress in the creation of the Angara space missile complex.
A number of federal programs in this field, including a concept of the missile and space industry's development have been adopted lately, Ivanov said, adding that a year-by-year schedule for the concept's realization would be drawn up during Monday's session.
The proposed scheme stipulates output increases in the missile and space industry by 1.6 times until 2010 and by 2.2 times until 2015, the minister said.
Speaking about the Angara complex, he said all necessary equipment was being manufactured by the Khrunichev research and industrial amalgamation, while transport infrastructure would be prepared at the Plessetsk cosmodrome, Ivanov said.
Angara will be propelled by ecologically clean fuel, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wondered about gasification of the Plesetsk Space Center. Ivanov responded that the space center gasification would be completed later in the week three years ahead of the schedule.
Ivanov expressed his gratitude to Gazprom, noting that a total of 600 km of gas pipes had been buried within two years.
President Putin noted that the company funded the project with its own assets, since the budget envisioned allocating funds over a longer period of time. "All expenditures will have to be reimbursed on time," he emphasized.