Pivdenne Design Bureau to equip Zenit LVs with Ukrainian instead of Russian engines over two years

Director General of the Dnipro-based Yangel Yuzhnoye (Pivdenne) Design Bureau Oleksandr Degtyarev says that he is convinced of good market prospects of the Ukrainian Zenit launch vehicle (LV) involved in several international projects.

The plans to reequip it with new Ukrainian rocket engines instead of Russia's RD-171M engines are quite real, he added.

"Zenit LV's launch systems fully meet all world standards," Degtyarev said in reply to a question from journalists about the Pivdenne Design Bureau's readiness to resume Zenit LV's launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

"To my mind, a certain political component is hampering to us," the director general of the Pivdenne Design Bureau said. He confirmed that the import substitution problems of Russian component parts are relevant "as always" for Zenit LVs.

"The RD-171M first-stage engine constitutes the most pressing problem of import substitution in Zenit," Degtyarev said.

"The Pivdenne Design Bureau has developed the RD-815 engine with a 250-tonne thrust and three engines, which constitute Mayak-S3.9 LV's first stage, are slightly higher than the RD-171M by their overall characteristics," he said.

"We unfortunately have some problems with their manufacture, and we are lagging behind in terms of producing hardware to undertake sound tests. But we are advancing in this direction. And we could have done quite a lot by uniting efforts," he said.

"If we have enough money, we will do it for two years," Degtyarev said, when asked about how much time the Pivdenne Design Bureau will need for creating a new domestic engine for Zenit LVs.

As for the problem of import substitution of Russian aluminum in the space industry, Degtyarev said that aluminum can be bought in Europe and the United States. The Pivdenne Design Bureau has already been shifting to using new aluminum alloys in its developments, he said.

The Pivdenne Design Bureau is a Ukrainian main scientific center, which develops spacecraft. This design bureau currently exports about 80% of its products and services, with the U.S. and the EU countries as its main partners.