Russia’s International Launch Services is axing about a quarter of its workforce as it scales down the number of missions it carries out per year.
The company has slashed the number of commercial launches it is targeting annually by half to around 3-4…
Russia’s International Launch Services is axing about a quarter of its workforce as it scales down the number of missions it carries out per year.
The company has slashed the number of commercial launches it is targeting annually by half to around 3-4 amid a difficult few years for its Proton rocket, although it is still actively pursuing new business.
“If it is determined that we need to ramp up our existing staff to accommodate additional missions in the future, we will be able to accomplish this in a relatively rapid manner,” said CEO Phil Slack.
On its website, ILS describes itself as a complete launch organisation of about 65 professionals.
A string of Federal Proton launch failures recently prompted the Russia state to consolidate its space industry under a single entity, the United Rocket and Space Corporation.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a government directive for the reform in February, but another Federal failure just months after that in May has once again put Proton out of action.
Its latest federal failure, the rocket’s fifth in less than five years, caused the loss of a telecoms satellite for local operator RSCC.
Investigations into the matter are expected to conclude in early September, when a return to flight date should be announced.
Speaking to SatelliteFinance in January before Proton’s latest failure, Slack said the group had only booked five new missions in 2013 but would have won “several more” if it wasn’t for the spate of launch failures on the government side.
Meanwhile, the launcher’s French peer Arianespace is also facing a significant reduction in staff as Europe plans its own reforms to remain competitive.
Proposals by European aerospace giants Airbus and Safran to combine their launcher assets under a new joint venture has prompted talk that Arianespace could be absorbed into the new entity.
Arianespace had 330 employees as of 1 January 2014, at its corporate headquarters in Evry, its launch site in French Guiana, and at offices in the US, Singapore and Tokyo.
