Program statement of the head of Roskosmos, Dmitrii Rogozin
Speech by Dmitrii Rogozin, Director General of Roskosmos State Corporation, at the 8th final industry conference of managers and specialists of personnel management services of organizations in the rocket and space industry on Thursday, June 2, 2022.
It is important to clarify one point about what is happening now with our donor universities. I have been talking about this for a long time: there is one objective indicator in the personnel policy – a competition for universities that train specialists for our industry. I remember when I was working in the Government, I was surprised, alarmed, and extremely disappointed by the fact that we have only one applicant applying for one place in universities specializing in rocket and space topics. A graduate submits documents – he also enters. If there is no competition, then there is no selection, so there is no opportunity to choose the best. This is a big problem.
Therefore, when I joined Roskosmos, one of the most important tasks for us was to change the negative reputation of the industry that had developed at that time over a 15-20-year history. In three and a half years, we have managed to reverse the situation through incredible efforts. First of all, by eliminating internal uncertainty. We managed to correctly place people in their posts and dramatically improve the quality of work and reliability of equipment. Spiteful critics, who are used to throwing darts at Roskosmos, immediately drooped.
The second task is to raise public awareness about the activities of Roskosmos. In this regard, we have become more active in working with television, created a good TV studio, the magazine Russian Cosmos, whose issues are actively read in the industry and beyond. We see high media activity in our press service and other departments. Why is it important to talk about this? Because you can’t be a thing in itself, you can’t lock yourself in.
The rocket and space industry has been a source of pride for our country since its formation. Of course, there is something to be proud of in other industries, but they are more reserved, they are introverts, and we are extroverts. Space has always been a platform for competitions, for demonstrating the achievements of leading powers. The Soviet Union did not spare any money on space. At that time, the country had not one Roskosmos, figuratively speaking, but many “Roskosmos.” There were Roskosmos Korolyov, Roskosmos Chelomey, Roskosmos Glushko and Roskosmos Yangel. Each of the firms had a powerful subsistence economy. Any achievement in the space sphere was a holiday for the country. The entire history of manned cosmonautics was a history of feats that, among other things, demonstrated the achievements of the Soviet socialist system and technologies that were created by Soviet people.
The Soviet Union is long gone, but the public’s expectations of the rocket and space industry have been preserved. If not feats, then breakthroughs and achievements are expected from us. It is very important to understand that we are in full view of everyone. Friends and foes alike are watching us, but most importantly, our society and the Russian people are watching.
In this regard, you need to behave decently and decently. Don’t steal, don’t betray. Work hard. Sometimes to the detriment of their own health. You need to understand that any of our failures are the subject of numerous gossip. I’m not even talking about speculation in the media. But any victory of ours, in turn, is a powerful support for the people, support that is especially needed in the current difficult months.
The third. Our ability to work directly with universities affects the selection of personnel. We recently signed an agreement with 18 core universities. They called it the Roskosmos Constellation. This is despite the fact that we work with six dozen universities across the country.
Roskosmos has a wide geography of activities. We create jobs almost all over Russia. And despite the low mobility of our population, there are individual projects that attract specialists from all over the country. As an example, the Vostochnyi cosmodrome. Whatever they say about it, but when we put things in order, it began to build by the hour! Yesterday, we completed the installation of the fifteenth tier of the cable refueling tower at the launch complex of the Angara rocket. Two more tiers remain to be installed before the construction is completed. Next year, we are planning autonomous complex tests, and in December 2023 – the first launch of the Angara.
Why am I saying all this? This is a missionary project, you can’t call it anything else. When we are reproached with the cost of construction work, I give figures: the creation of infrastructure for the Soyuz-2 rocket cost three and a half times cheaper than the railway from Adler to Krasnaya Polyana. We have logistics in the south, foreign workers, the proximity of material and technical and human resources …. And here is taiga, swamp, but we are building a modern spaceport on a bare spot. At the end of the summer, we rent out new apartment buildings in Tsiolkovsky. They will accommodate employees who came not only from the Amur Region, but also from Moscow, St. Petersburg and other regions.
Such powerful projects that attract the attention of the whole world, on the basis of which we are going to create capacities for the production of hulls of the new Russian orbital service station, test our new manned spacecraft, are like a magnet for young guys that attracts the best of the best. Every young person wants to join the creation of something new, something that the whole country will be proud of.
That’s why we need to work with universities in a completely different way than before: we need to call each other every day, nurture the best teachers, take them and students to the facilities of the rocket and space industry! The most important thing is constant live contact. This is wrong when many universities teach specialists on old models of rocket and space technology. Young people should be attracted from the student bench to work in the design bureau, set creative tasks for them, and involve them in serious work. Make sure that children do not train on kitties, but are involved in a serious intellectual process.
Another point that I can’t help but mention. After February 24, 2022, we live in a different time, in a different country.
And I’ve already said a lot about this. I consider it my duty as the head of a large industry, where almost 200 thousand people work, not to sit in my office and pretend that my job is only to make decisions. I believe that we should all take a civil stand in the current situation, because now is a crucial moment for Russia.
We have accepted a challenge that has been accumulating for years, which called into question our very right to a sovereign existence. We took, I want to emphasize, an unequal battle. The entire military-industrial complex of the West and its entire economy are now working against us. But despite this, we simply do not have the right to lose, because if we give up, we will be crushed –
Now more than ever after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the slogan of those times is relevant: “Everything for the front, everything for Victory.” And in this regard, we are raising all our mobilization capabilities.
It should be borne in mind that Roskosmos has colossal technologies that are directly related to the new generation of wars. We have our own orbital grouping: navigation, communications, surveillance, retransmission – all this can be used as a tool in the armed struggle.
The Ministry of Defense has an orbital grouping. It is created at our enterprises. The number of spacecrafts depends on how well we work. So far, there are very few of them – at the moment, Russia has just over 160 spacecraft for civil and military purposes. And thousands are deployed against our army, one Elon Musk, for example, has more than 2 thousand Starlink spacecraft. This also includes foreign surveillance satellites that monitor the movement of our troops online. They look at us from space like in a movie and transmit information directly to the firing positions. Our servicemen are in an extremely difficult situation, and yet they win because of their character, endurance and will. At the same time, we still do not have all-weather and round-the-clock surveillance radars. Only at the end of the year there will be a “Condor-FKA.” Next year we will make two more radars.
Until the end of this year, the industry’s enterprises will hand over several other new vehicles that will be very useful for our Armed Forces. I will not hide the fact that the entire resource of Roskosmos spacecraft is now actively used in the interests of the Ministry of Defense. This is no secret to our Western opponents. And so it is clear to everyone that we are not standing on the sidelines.
In addition, we are responsible for the development of ballistic missiles – a component of the Nuclear Deterrent Forces. I hope that it will never come to their use, because nuclear weapons and their missile delivery systems are the last equalizer. But the very fact that we have these forces is a guarantee of our security.
At the same time, we participate in cooperation on combat missile systems that are already used on the battlefield. Some of our companies are involved in the creation of the Kinzhal and Iskander complexes. We produce elements of combat control and power engineering for a wide range of missile weapons, which are produced by other concerns and corporations. At the Yaroslavl radio plant, the production of tactical radio communication equipment has begun, and this is communication with the Navy, aviation and Ground Forces. We also have other suggestions that I won’t discuss just yet.
Thus, in fact, we have already become a large part of our Armed Forces.
We are now changing our priorities: all funds are being spent on our mobilization plans to support the front. We have no other chance of survival than to defeat even a stronger enemy. But we must understand that in the end, everything will depend not on machine tools, labor productivity, or even the professional training of specialists and workers. Everything will depend on our motivation, civic position, and understanding of the changes taking place in the country and the world.
In a year’s time, the situation in the country will change and become more complicated, because the resources of air and vehicle fleets will be exhausted. We will face the problems that Roskosmos has already begun to solve. I don’t think all our industrial partners will be able to meet these challenges in time. For some time, we will all feel a noticeable subsidence. We need to be aware of this and prepare for it, and not pretend that the war is somewhere far away. No need to behave on the principle of “My hut is on the edge.” The war is already here. She came to our house. And the people you should recruit should not only be excellent engineers, outstanding designers, talented technologists, they should also be citizens, they should understand the goals and tasks that the Roskosmos State Corporation and all its enterprises are solving today.
We must look at what is in people’s hearts, and if there is something missing, then do the appropriate work. That is why our personnel are the organizers of political work at their enterprises, and I am setting such a task for you today. You should think about how you will explain to people what is happening in the world and in the country. And when they understand what’s going on, you’ll get their gratitude and appreciation. They will start working better. They will understand that the country must pass this period with dignity.
I believe in the grandiose future of Russian cosmonautics. In no sense do not doubt! We have defined goals, clear tools, and lack of funding, but this is a feasible task. The most important thing is to be convinced of your own rightness. Sergei Korolyov was not only an outstanding design engineer. He “burned” himself at work, because he worked for his homeland, believed in its high ideals. He knew we had to be ahead of the planet. Today, just like 60-70 years ago, high professionalism is not enough. Our professionalism should be combined with the ideology of defending the Fatherland. Our national values and ideas can be very simply formulated: “So that our family will not be translated.” Here is our simple idea.
This is how you should set up your own teams and select employees today.
Linked from Russian spaceflight news