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Soyuz supplier sees orders collapse Russia's major rocket propulsion enterprise and the prime supplier of engines for the Soyuz and Angara launchers came to the brink of bankruptcy and liquidation this year.
Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat rocket launches a GLONASS mission on Sept. 13, 2025.
KB Khimavtomatiki, a.k.a. KBKhA, based in Voronezh, south of Moscow, the developer of liquid-propellant engines, including the critical RD-0124 series for the third stage of the Soyuz rocket and for the URM-2 booster of the Angara family, started running into financial problems as early as the second half of 2023, according to a local publication Ekonomika i Zhizn. The key reasons for the company's troubles were the absence of orders for 2025 and 2026 from RKTs Progress, the developer of the Soyuz rockets, as well as the drop in orders for oil and gas hardware, the company's key "spinoff" product. Simultaneously, the company's customers (implying Roskosmos and the Ministry of Defense) reduced funding for the ongoing development projects at KBKhA by more than seven billion rubles ($86.7 million) and pushed back a number of contracts for serial manufacturing of operational rocket engines. Last but not least, the loan interest on the contracts for the supply of oil and gas equipment went up as well. Such a wide-range collapse of business could clearly be attributed to the effects of Moscow's disastrous invasion of Ukraine. For example, an array of classified Russian payloads was known to be sitting on the ground due to sanctions, thus reducing demand for launches. The news about the KBKhA's troubles coincided with the reports about severe financial problems at RKK Energia, the prime piloted spacecraft developer, and with the announcement of a shortened work week at GKNPTs Khrunichev, the manufacturer of the Angara rocket, hinting at an industry-wide decline. (INSIDER CONTENT) Obviously, the author of the expose on the KBKhA situation could not make such a connection. Instead, the report blamed poor management by local authorities, who failed their lobbying duties, and some unscrupulous creditors, among as many as 30 plaintiffs, who had filed 1,154 claims worth 6.9 billion rubles ($85.5 million) against the company in the past three years. During the same period, KBKhA itself acted as a plaintiff in 56 litigations worth 7.9 billion rubles ($97.9 million), Ekonomika i Zhizn said. It appeared that KBKhA chronically failed to pay its contractors and creditors, while itself being heavily owed by its financially strained military and civilian customers. In February 2024, the arbitration court in the Voronezh Region initiated bankruptcy procedures against KBKhA. The same year, the head of KBKhA Andrei Pechagin sent an official letter to Roskosmos, describing the situation at the company, but reportedly got no help from Moscow. Nevertheless, on May 23, 2024, the local tax agency, granted KBKhA a 661-million ruble ($8.2 million) tax deferral plan for 36 months. Additionally, KBKhA received a "guarantee" from its parent company NPO Energomash in Moscow, even though it is not clear whether Energomash agreed to underwrite the KBKhA's liabilities. On June 12, 2025, the Russian government issued Order No. 1536-r, that provided a subsidy to KBKhA to pay off its creditors. The article in the Ekonomika i Zhizn, clearly written by the company's insider or a close ally, said that the financial salvation of the company was still possible but very difficult and would require more action. It should be noted that the rocket propulsion conglomerate in Voronezh, as well as the rest of the Russian rocket industry had survived very difficult times in the 1990s and the early 2000s, but most prime contractors were ultimately bailed out by the state, even if after major layoffs, budget cuts and considerable shrinking of their business. Soyuz campaigns in 2025 Despite reported drops in future orders, Soyuz rockets maintained a brisk launch rate during the year and exceeded 2,000 missions since the first Sputnik. As of November, the Soyuz family flew 10 missions in 2025 and up to five more launches remained in the pipeline before the end of the year. Though it was unlikely that all of these missions would be accomplished, the Soyuz could provide a number of launches equal to or even exceeding that in 2024. At the same time, the Soyuz-2-1v variant saw its last flight in 2025, after 13 successful missions since its introduction in 2014. Going forward, the major mission for the Soyuz family would be the deployment of the low-orbital communications constellations (INSIDER CONTENT) which were promised to reach the launch pad as early as the end of 2025. February 5: Soyuz-2-1v flies the first Russian mission of 2025 and its last Military personnel in Plesetsk opened the 2025 Russian orbital launch campaigns with the liftoff of a Soyuz-2-1v rocket on February 5, carrying multiple payloads for the Ministry of Defense. It was the 13th and last mission of the light-weight Soyuz variant. February 28: Progress MS-30 The first Russian mission to re-supply the International Space Station, ISS, in 2025 (and the first ISS launch of the year) lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, in the early hours, local time, on February 28 on a Soyuz-2-1a. The rocket successfully sent the Progress MS-30 cargo ship on a two-day rendezvous trip to the orbital outpost. March 3: Second GLONASS-K2 The Russian military personnel at Plesetsk performed the launch of a Soyuz-2 rocket carrying the second GLONASS-K2 spacecraft variant on March 3, 2025, in the gradual process of replenishment and renovation of its global positioning satellite constellation. April 8: Soyuz MS-27 The first of two Soyuz crew vehicles scheduled to go to the International Space Station, ISS, in 2025 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 8. The transport vehicle successfully docked at the station's Prichal module three hours later. May 23: Soyuz-2 launches a classified payload Russian military personnel at Plesetsk Cosmodrome launched a Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat rocket with a satellite for the Ministry of Defense. The spacecraft was believed to be a part of the Nivelir project apparently testing orbital inspection and anti-satellite techniques. July 3: Progress MS-31 The second Russian mission to re-supply the International Space Station, ISS, lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on a Soyuz-2-1a rocket on July 3, 2025. The Progress MS-31 cargo ship made a two-day trip to the orbital outpost delivering propellant and cargo to the Expedition 73 crew. July 25: Ionosfera-M3/4 A Soyuz-2-1b rocket lifted off from Vostochny spaceport on July 25, 2025, carrying the second pair of Ionosfera spacecraft, joining the first two satellites launched in November 2024. The quartet was designed to monitor "space weather" phenomena, such as the impact of solar wind on the near-Earth space affecting civilian and military systems. The same rocket also delivered a cluster of secondary dual-use payloads, including a satellite for Iran. August 20: Bion-M2 A Soyuz-2 rocket lifted off with the Bion-M No. 2 satellite on August 20, on a month-long mission studying the effects of micro-gravity and space radiation on various organisms, including small animals, before returning them back to Earth for analysis. September 11: Progress MS-32 re-supplies ISS The third Russian mission to re-supply the International Space Station, ISS, lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on Sept. 11, 2025, on a Soyuz-2-1a rocket. The Progress MS-31 cargo ship made a two-day trip to the orbital outpost delivering propellant and cargo to the Expedition 73 crew. September 13: GLONASS-K No. 18L Russia launched a fresh satellite to replenish its orbital navigation network along with small experimental spacecraft. The GLONASS-K No. 18 and Mozhaets-6 satellites lifted off on a Soyuz rocket from Plesetsk launch site in the morning of Sept. 13, 2025.
Summary of Soyuz rocket launches in 2025:
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