MOSCOW. June 29 (Interfax) - The Angara rocket cost does not exceed 5 billion rubles and will near the average market price in case of serial production, a spokesman for Roscosmos said.
"Development tests of the Angara-A5 heavy launch vehicle will soon be resumed. At the testing stage, Angara-A5 production is individual, not serial. The price will be close to the market one when serial production begins," the spokesman said.
The Khrunichev Center has to operate two production facilities in the period of production migration from Moscow to the Polyot company's premises in Omsk, which results in extra costs, he said.
"Nonetheless, a contract for manufacturing several rockets of the type as part of the research-and-development project has been concluded at a price of less than 5 billion rubles per rocket, which is much lower than the initial price reported by certain media outlets," the spokesman said.
Angara is a family of modular rockets with oxygen-kerosene engines which come in four types ranging from light to heavy. The rocket's lift capacity varies from 1.5 tonnes (Angara 1.1) to 35 tonnes (Angara A7) delivered to low near-Earth orbits.
In May 2019, it was reported that the Russian Defense Ministry would perform three launches of Angara A5 rockets and one Angara 1.2 launch between 2019 and 2021, but the launch due in 2019 was postponed until 2020. The Defense Ministry is the principal buyer of Angara rockets.
The second stage of the Vostochny Cosmodrome is under construction to prepare for Angara launches.