From 180 employees of the United Rocket and Space Corporation, only 15 people will remain on the staff (without taking into account the Scientific Research Institute of Space Instrumentation). This should be the result of the structural reform of GC Roskosmos, which was approved by the supervisory board of the corporation led by Dmitry Rogozin. The meeting at which the decision was taken to integrate the URSC into Roskosmos was held at the end of February. The management of Roskosmos aimed at the merger much earlier; for example, the general director of the Civil Code, Igor Komarov, sent the proposal to the president of the Russian Federation at the end of 2016.

It is not the first year that the Russian space industry has been "shaken up" by selecting the optimal model of work by trial and error. The United Missile Space Corporation lasted three years with little: it was from its creation in 2014 that the announced reform of the space industry began. Then the two main actors in all industry processes were to be the Customer (Federal Space Agency, later abolished) and the Contractor (ORKK), whose powers were divided.

The model, which was designed to streamline the relationships within the industry, led to competition between two powerful centers, the space agency and the URSC, and, the most unpleasant, to delays in decision-making ("until an inexcusable time when the meaning itself was lost," says Yury Vlasov, general director of the URSC). Within a year it became clear that the organization of a new structure "with two heads" was a mistake. To improve the state of affairs, another superstructure was created: all management functions were assumed to a single state corporation "Roskosmos", and the URSC later became part of it.

Yuri Vlasov received an additional post, becoming deputy head of Roskosmos in the rocket and space industry. GC "Roskosmos" arose on the basis created by the URSC. Now the new state corporation is absorbing its "parent" structure. The United Space Rocket and Space Corporation will be integrated into Roskosmos, while the URSC staff will be reduced from 180 to 15 people. Such a reform of the structure of the state corporation has already been approved by the supervisory board of Roskosmos under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. Despite such an impressive reduction (more than 10 times) in the staff, the merger of the URSC and Roskosmos will not mean massive layoffs. Some of the employees will be transferred to branch enterprises, the rest to a special industrial block, which is already being formed within the corporation. Yuri Vlasov, deputy head of Roskosmos, will supervise it.

As for the activities of the URSC, neither the Administration of the President nor the government has any complaints against them. The creation of a unified corporation at least allowed for a large-scale multi-vector audit: from the financial and technical capabilities of dozens of enterprises to the human resources. As for the United Rocket and Space Corporation itself, the reform is certainly not very pleasant. Actually, the URSC will retain the status of a holder of shares in branch enterprises and nothing more. This is a compromise option, reminiscent of a Gabrovo dweller, who cut off the tail of the dog in parts. Initially, the experts of the financial and economic bloc in the government of the Russian Federation proposed to abolish the URSC, to transfer the shares to Roskosmos, and to close the issue on that. It was "spared" because they did not want to deal with bureaucratic procedures: "The process would drag on for two or three years, no one wanted to waste time on it. As a result, this option was postponed," explains the source in the government.

But postponed does not mean crossed out forever. A year later, the general director of the Roskosmos Group Igor Komarov will return to the issue of a full merger. For today, the main task was to integrate the URSC into Roskosmos, "simplify and optimize management processes". A new round of changes is waiting ahead: due to the fact that one time it was incorrectly measured, it will be necessary to cut off once again.

Reference

The URSC (United Rocket and Space Corporation) is an open joint-stock company with 100% state participation, registered in March 2014.
The URSC includes organizations whose shares are held by the Russian Federation, including 10 integrated structures consisting of 48 enterprises, as well as 14 independent organizations of the rocket and space industry, including 8 joint-stock companies and 6 federal state unitary enterprises after their transformation into JSCs.

The task of the corporation is to ensure the reform of the enterprises of the rocket and space industry in Russia and methods of production. Priority directions are development, production, testing, delivery, modernization and implementation of rocket and space technology. According to the official website of the corporation, in the process of reforming the URSC will be included in the Roskosmos Group.