Russia To Cease Producing Engines For Proton-M Rockets In 2019 - Manufacturer

Russia to Cease Producing Engines for Proton-M Rockets in 2019 - Manufacturer

The Proton-PM plant located in the Russian city of Perm will construct four engines for Proton-M carrier rockets in 2019 thus completing its contracts on manufacturing these engines, the plant's executive director, Dmitry Schenyatsky, said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2018) The Proton-PM plant located in the Russian city of Perm will construct four engines for Proton-M carrier rockets in 2019 thus completing its contracts on manufacturing these engines, the plant's executive director, Dmitry Schenyatsky, said on Tuesday.

"Concerning the engines for the Proton-M carrier rockets, under the signed contracts we have to construct four more RD-276 [engines]. Their production will be completed at our plant in 2019," Schenyatsky said, as quoted by the manufacturer's website.

He pointed out that tests of the RD-276 engines would be completed in the first quarter of 2019.

Four Proton-M launches took place in 2017, while in 2018 there was only one launch so far. Moscow is going to launch three Proton-M rockets in early 2019. In late August, Director General of Russia's State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said that Moscow would stop using Proton carrier rockets in 2025, and the rockets' production would be halted in 2020-2021.