ArianeGroup did not call the Russian “Soyuz” a European missile

ArianeGroup: future European missiles will be Ariane 6 and Vega C

European missiles of the future will be Ariane 6 and Vega C, said in an interview with SpaceNews Frank Heibanom, in charge of the Ariane 6 program at ArianeGroup.

The manager did not name the average Russian Soyuz-ST, currently launched from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, among future European rockets. “We have always used the concept of the European launch family, and today this is the case with the Ariane 6 and Vega C,” said Heiban.

The manager did not rule out that an ultralight rocket could be added to them in the future.

In January 2020, the representative office of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Russia, Rene Pischel said that all Ukrainian and Russian components in the Italian light Vega rocket would be removed. “Basically, the goal of the Vega evolutionary improvements as part of ESA's development programs is to move towards greater competitiveness and further Europeanization. The third and fourth Vega stages will be replaced in the Vega E rocket, ”said the manager.

In June 2018, RIA Novosti, citing a source in the European space industry, reported that by 2023 Europe will allow the abandonment of commercial launches of the Russian Soyuz-ST launch vehicle from the Kuru cosmodrome in favor of its own Ariane 6 rocket being developed in the version with two side accelerators.

In December 2017, SpaceNews wrote, referring to the words of Renato Lafranconi, who is responsible for the Vega program at ESA, that the goal of modernizing this rocket (to Vega C) is “Europeanization of what is not European.” .

At present, three launch vehicles are launched in Kuru – Vega, Soyuz-ST and Ariane 5. The fourth-stage main engine RD-843 for the Vega light rocket was developed by the Yuzhnoye design bureau and manufactured by Yuzhmash (Ukraine). Titanium fuel tanks for the carrier are produced by the Lavochkin Research and Production Association (NPO) (Russia). The Soyuz-ST rocket is completely Russian.

The Ariane 6 heavy launch vehicle is planned to be produced in two modular configurations: A62 (with two solid-propellant boosters from the Vega light rocket for launching a payload of up to five tons into a geo-transfer orbit) and A64 (with four boosters for loads up to 10.5 tons).

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