The Proton-PM plant located in the Russian city of Perm has manufactured and transferred the last batch of RD-276 engines for Proton-M rockets, the production of which was scheduled for termination in 2019
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th December, 2019) The Proton-PM plant located in the Russian city of Perm has manufactured and transferred the last batch of RD-276 engines for Proton-M rockets, the production of which was scheduled for termination in 2019."The production of the first stage engine for the Proton heavy-class launch vehicles has been completed. The last set of RD-276 engines manufactured by the enterprise under existing contracts was handed over in November to the customer - the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center," Proton-PM's corporate magazine said.
Proton-PM had been producing first stage engines for Proton rockets since 1965. The last modification, RD-276, was developed in 2005, and the enterprise had since then produced over 90 sets of engines. The enterprise had produced over 3,000 first stage engines since 1965.
In July, Igor Arbuzov, the CEO of Russian rocket engine manufacturer NPO Energomash, said that the engines for all the ordered Proton-M heavy-lift carrier rockets had been produced and the production was ceased.
In August 2018, Director General of Russia's State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia would stop using Proton carrier rockets in 2025, and the rockets' production would be stopped in 2020 or 2021.
