New head of the Russian Aerospace Agency confirmed in a new structure covering aerospace and defence industries

Published: 7/5/1999

Pursuant to a Russian government resolution, Mr Yuri Koptev has been appointed Director General of the Russian Aerospace Agency, according to the Government Information Department. Confirming his appointment as the senior government official within the aerospace industry. The Russian Aerospace Agency was founded at the end of May 1999, following a presidential decree, after the Russian Space Agency (RKA) was appointed tomanage the aircraft-building industry taking responsibility from the Ministry of Economics. Mr Koptev has been General Director of RKA since 1992. Mr Koptev will report to Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who is responsible for the defence industry, through four agencies covering the aerospace industry, conventional weapons, control systems and shipbuilding. Klebanov has said that the agencies will continue to have administrative power over state enterprises. Private companies or those that are partly state-owned will be 'influenced' through the system of state orders. The placing of those orders will be on a strictly competitive basis in the future. Ending according to Klebanov, the present system under which orders are awarded as a result of enterprises lobbying the various ministries involved. One of the major tasks within the industries, is to create large viable firms by merging enterprises and gaining critical mass to exploit both design and development capacity and technology. For Klebanov this means that the current 360 firms involved in the aerospace industry, should shrink to 10 large consortiums. In the area of defence technology, exports are seen as a growth area and it is Klebanov's view that Russia should be involved in defence sales everywhere, including in the U.S. “We have top scientific and technological potential and can compete with everyone.” All to often the reshuffling of pieces has been outlined in quite high levels of detail by those at the top of the Russian aerospace industry only to be lost in the mire that constitutes middle management of the industry. Both Mr. Koptev and Mr. Klebanov will have to show remarkable strength and stamina to achieve significant physical restructuring in a country that changes its government with such disappointing regularity, bringing in new politicians with new agendas.

Article ID: 655