MOSCOW. Jan 29 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Aviation and Space Agency will have over RUB18bn (USD632m) for aircraft and spacecraft programs in 2004, Yuri Koptev, the agency's CEO, told reporters in Moscow on Thursday.
"The budget 2004 allocates about RUB3bn (USD105.2m) for civil-use aircraft, and the federal space program together with the GLONASS navigation program are worth over RUB15bn (USD526.4m)," he said.
According to Koptev, this money will be enough to continue the TU-204-300 and the IL-96-400 programs. He also added that the TU-204-120 had obtained a type certificate on Thursday.
As to space programs money, he said, 42 percent of this sum will be spent on the maintenance of the International Space Station, the rest on the GLONASS program. Koptev said that the national group of telecoms satellites would be reinforced.
He also said that in 2004 real flight tests of the new Soyuz carrier rocket were expected to begin at Plesetsk Space Center, while the Proton-M carrier would be modernized.
At the same time, he emphasized, Russian space programs, although feeling better lately, are still funded much poorer than in other countries. He estimated the NASA budget at USD15.4bn. According to Koptev, with this money NASA launched 23 carriers in 2003, while Russia 21 with 30 times as little funding.
Worldwide, Koptev said, the space industry is worth about USD45bn annually.
"Russia's share of USD500m is of course too little," he said.