About 100 Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles will be converted to launch foreign communications satellites, ITAR-TASS news agency said Monday.
The first launch will take place at Plessetsk cosmodrome in northwest Russia within 10 months, said a spokesman from the launch centre.
The conversion programme was drawn up by Russian manufacturer Khrunichev in cooperation with Germany’s Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA).
The missiles, which would have been destroyed under the START II treaty ratified earlier this month, will enable the Russians to save about 170 million dollars. It would have cost this amount to dismantle the missiles, ITAR-TASS said.
Khrunichev, manufacturers of Russia’s most powerful rocket launcher, Proton, and the space station Mir, has already received orders for 20 launches.
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