MOSCOW. Sept 29 (Interfax-AVN) - A South Korean delegation will discuss space cooperation at the highest-level as part of its visit to Russia, a source with the Russian space industry told Interfax-AVN.
"Russian-Korean space cooperation has been developing rather well. The first Korean, Yi So-yeon, flew to space aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. A joint project to build a Korean space rocket and a launch pad in South Korea with the assistance of Russian companies has been advancing well," the source said.
The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said earlier that South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will visit Khrunichev Space Research and Production Center in Moscow, which is working on South Korean KSLV-1 space rocket. The contract on this rocket was signed in October 2004. The customer is the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The Khrunichev center, the Energomash enterprise, and the transport engineering design bureau are taking part in the project on the Russian side. South Korea is due to launch its first rocket in the second quarter of 2009.
The two-stage rocket weighs 140 tonnes. It length is 23 meters and the diameter is three meters. The first stage was designed in Russia, while South Korea designed the second and the upper stage.
Energomash foreign economic director Anatoly Frolov said earlier that the company hopes its cooperation with South Korea on rocket engines will continue.
"Prospects for further cooperation between the two countries on rocket engines will be discussed within the framework of South Korean president's visit to Russia scheduled for September. We have begun to design a new engine for the first stage of South Korea's KSLV-2 rocket under a preliminary agreement with the South Korean side. It is early to speak about this engine; but its task will be to secure a thrust of 80 tonnes," Frolov said.
Analysts have also said that Moscow and Seoul have good prospects as to military-technical cooperation. Russia shipped arms and equipment, including T-80U tanks, BMP-3 armored personnel carriers, Metis anti-tank missiles, Igla air defense missile complexes and military-transport helicopters, worth $450 million, to South Korea as part of paying off the debt owed by the Soviet Union. Later, Russia delivered Murena amphibious vessels to South Korea under a $100 million contract signed in 2002. The South Korean side paid only a half of the contracted sum, while the rest was written off as part of Russia's obligations to redeem its debt.
Possibilities to continue cooperation under this scheme have continued in recent years. In particular, Russia delivered a batch of light multipurpose Ilyushin Il-103 aircraft under a 2002 contract. According to unofficial information, the contract was worth $9 million; and the payments were made under the aforementioned scheme.
South Korea also imports civilian Kamov Ka-32 helicopters from Russia. It was reported earlier that the South Korean Defense Ministry plans to buy a batch of 32 Ka-32 shipborne helicopters worth $1 billion.
Ka-32 multipurpose helicopters are designed for fire-extinguishing and rescue efforts, as well as construction and transportation in hard-to-reach locations in both high and low temperatures.