"In 2015-2016, the production volume declined as the output of item 11F695 [Kobalt] was terminated but in 2017 a new product will be delivered," the report says.

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. The St. Petersburg-based design bureau Arsenal will assemble a modernized reconnaissance imagery satellite for Russia’s Defense Ministry this year, the design bureau said in its annual report on Monday.

According to the data posted on the Arsenal design bureau’s website, the company is currently assembling two types of satellites: the Lotos-S and the Pion-NKS. The first type of the satellites is designed to determine the coordinates of radio-technical means of ground-based facilities and exercise control in various radiofrequency bands of the ionosphere and in the near-Earth space. The second type is designed for radar and radio-technical surveillance of ground objectives and control in various radiofrequency bands in the ionosphere and in the near-Earth space.

The last Kobalt-M film-return reconnaissance satellite came back to the Earth in 2015.

The Kobalt-M is a series of specialized reconnaissance imagery satellites developed by the Samara-based Progress Rocket and Space Center and produced by the Arsenal enterprise. The first modernized satellite was launched in the fall of 2004. The last Kobalt-M satellite became the tenth representative of this series.