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ITALIAN COMPANY BUYS TEN MORE UKRAINIAN ROCKET ENGINES FOR ESA’S VEGA LAUNCH VEHICLE
Yuzhnoye State Design Office, Yuzhmash Production Association, and AVIO S.p.A (Italy) have agreed upon the purchase of 10 more Ukrainian rocket engines for the Vega launch vehicle.
On April 28, 2021, the Italian company confirmed its willingness to extend the cooperation with Ukraine. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba offered his congratulations on this agreement that has been reached through the joint efforts of the Ukrainian space industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
“The broader participation of Ukraine in ESA’s Vega program is the evidence of the reliability and competitive power of Ukrainian engineering developments in the space industry. The export of hi-tech technologies of high quality contributes to the development of Ukrainian economy, brings orders to Ukrainian companies, and creates jobs for Ukrainian specialists. The support of such contracts is top priority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the efforts of Ukrainian diplomats in Italy have played an important role in concluding this agreement,” Dmytro Kuleba said.
The current contract for the purchase of eleven main engine assemblies is valid until 2023. From these assemblies, seven have been delivered under this contract already, one assembly will be shipped to the customer soon, and the manufacture of three main engine assemblies is under way.
“The current contract provides for the manufacture of ten more main engine assemblies. We are grateful to Ukrainian diplomats who supported the conclusion of this agreement and held many discussions with both AVIO’s top managers and representatives of the Italian Space Agency, which has yielded this positive result,” Dmytro Nikon, Senior Economist of Yuzhmash PA, commented.
“The cooperation with AVIO S.p.A. is a vivid example that the space industry of Ukraine is being integrated into European space programs. We, in turn, do our best for the development and broadening of cooperation between Ukraine and Italy with respect to space technologies, and will appreciate the support from our diplomats in future,” Oleksandr Prokopchuk, Chief Designer of the Design Office for Liquid-Propellant Rocket Propulsion Systems in Yuzhnoye SDO, said.
For reference: The lightweight launch vehicle Vega is the joint project of the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Yuzhnoye SDO and Yuzhmash PA have been cooperating with Italian AVIO S.p.A under the Vega program since 2004. For these years, more than 20 main engine assemblies have been manufactured and delivered to AVIO S.p.A, and the latest delivery was at the beginning of 2021.
