Transcript:

Dmitry Medvedev: Ladies and gentlemen, today’s meeting is devoted to the quality and reliability of space equipment. We are returning to this issue for obvious reasons. I’ve recently held a meeting on this subject as well. It was also discussed at the Security Council. It seems it has been discussed everywhere.

In the past five years, funding for the industry has been tripled. This is a fact, and it’s good. At the same time, in the last year and a half (2011-2012) we had six aborted launches and this is no good at all no matter what arguments are made to justify them. None of the leading space powers has had so many launch failures. Let me recall that we plan to invest about 670 billion roubles in the development of space missile equipment. This is a handsome sum and we cannot allow a large chunk of it to be literally tossed to the wind.

I don’t want to spout platitudes, but we occupy a special place in space exploration (all those present know this only too well because this is their lifelong occupation): advanced technology, a still unique production base despite its obsolescence and ground-based infrastructure. By tradition, our missile-and-space industry has always done better than others and, therefore, its scientific and production potential will remain a competitive advantage that we must develop, support and finance.

I’m sure that the heads of the industry’s key agencies understand this very well. All recent mishaps have been analysed and the blame game has been played. Various experts attribute these failures to poor quality control and the irresponsibility of people on specific production lines.

We have made the necessary (at least for this moment) personnel decisions, but this is only part of the problem. I think it shouldn’t be reduced to the personal responsibility of the directors of enterprises, no matter how important it might be. I believe it would be fair for the whole team to share the responsibility. In legal terms, this is the material liability of a legal entity for insufficient quality of a product and the accompanying work. I talked about that recently and would like to bring it up again before aerospace industry leaders.

An industry that is made up of 15 integrated organisations must have a new unified quality management system – this is clear. Quality control must be part of every stage of this work, every step of production: it should cover conceptual development, the manufacturing facilities and, of course, space equipment operation. We need centres that can test and certify electronic chips, and independent units to monitor flight missions of orbiting hardware. And, of course, we need a unified industry-specific facility for the final testing of carrier rockets, boosters, spacecraft and propulsion engines. And, certainly, there should be strict discipline everywhere: no one has done away with that – it was maintained in Soviet times and must be enforced now.

Technicians and engineers must be made more responsible, as well as staff at all levels – I have been emphasizing this. All this manifests itself as disciplinary responsibility within the industry and as the liability of a company – with all the legal implications – outside. Financial responsibility should be instituted in such a way as to control the quality and reliability of the equipment made.

And finally your proposals to better organise the management of the aerospace industry. Although this is not the subject of today’s discussion, I am ready and willing to listen to them, too.

Such is the agenda for today’s meeting. I would like to ask every speaker to keep it short and to the point and make only concrete suggestions. You are not expected to rub salt in the wound, but to make proposals for establishing order.

Now let us begin. The floor is naturally first given to Mr Popovkin, head of the Space Agency. (Addressing Vladimir Popovkin): Only be brief, please.

Vladimir Popovkin (head of the Federal Space Agency): O.K., I will. Following your instructions, Mr Medvedev, of August 14, the Agency has once more reviewed the quality of space and rocket equipment, analysed its Soviet-era background, studied quality management in other countries and found the causes of the quality decline. And – I am reporting to you now – we have taken steps to improve it.

Today’s quality and reliability control system in the aerospace industry is governed by a package of documents, of which the main one is Regulations for the Development, Production and Operation of Space Hardware, known as RK-11. This is a programme to ensure the quality of military-purpose equipment manufactured for government defence orders, and it includes a raft of the Agency’s regulatory documents to improve this control. Up to 2011 inclusive, our industry had used a quality control system that comprised technical inspection departments and reliability services at manufacturing plants, military representative offices, parent research organisations that provided research supervision, and hardware developers exercising designer and warranty supervision over the manufacture and operation of equipment. Quality was mainly controlled by manufacturers and military representatives themselves.

The client exercised control only at two stages: during the examination of a preliminary design and in the course of preparations and flight tests. Other matters – uniformity of design documents, incoming inspection of components and materials, control over the manufacture of experimental prototypes, independent tests and trials of units, control of manufacturing processes, control of the quantity output of products and job evaluation – were the concern of quality inspectorates at the plants and military representative offices. But the accidents that occurred in 2010 and 2011 made the Agency take a closer look at this system and come up with a series of short- and long-term measures. We were forced to implement the following urgent measures. A technical-policy and quality-control directorate, which was established under the Federal Space Agency, began to assess systemic quality-control issues at the top level. Ad hoc expert groups were established, and work began to ensure additional technical inspections for launch vehicles and spacecraft. This allowed us to see whether they were ready for operation or not. In effect, this includes all of our current and previously designed boosters for launch vehicles. Our measures, which were implemented by late 2011, made it possible to conduct accident-free launches already in 2012. In all, 15 accident-free launches have taken place since early 2012.

Moreover, agencies and companies in the aerospace  industry have started establishing departmental quality-control programmes. Under this programme quality-control offices are to open at every agency and company. These offices have already opened and operate at the main launch-vehicle and spacecraft manufacturing companies, including the Central R&D Institute of Engineering; the Information Satellite Systems enterprise in Krasnoyarsk; the Lavochkin Research and Production
Association; the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center; and Energomash. Documents regulating the quality-control offices and the range of equipment to be inspected by them have entered into force.

Work is underway to establish an industry laboratory, which will check the quality of feedstock, semi-finished products and materials being supplied for the manufacture of launch vehicles and spacecraft. We did not try to reinvent the wheel in this area. The United Aircraft Corporation and the Aviatekhpriyomka (Aviation Technical Acceptance) company already operate an effective system, which ensures initial quality control for incoming feedstock.  In effect, we have started using this system in our work. We are moving to establish centres, which will purchase, test and certify foreign-made electronic components for launch vehicles and spacecraft. As a matter of fact, our list (there were no restrictions) includes about 6,000 types of electronic components, now being used in the industry. But the total number was reduced to 1,000 based on subsequent restrictions. From now on, all new prototype equipment should include no more than 2,000 types of electronic components. In this connection, I would like to thank the Ministry of Industry and Trade. We have a good relationship with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on this issue.

In following through on the Defence Industry Commission’s decision, we have established an inter-departmental centre to conduct radiation tests on the above electronic components. The Federal Space Agency has established and operates a system of test benches to check these electronic components. We plan to build 12 more test benches. This will allow us to ensure high-tech tests of virtually all types and categories of electronic components being used in spacecraft design.

This year, we have to complete a joint launch-vehicle operator at the Baikonur Space Centre. Slide No 3 lists all the main methodological and regulatory parameters of a logistics-support and quality-control system, which is used to check launch vehicles and spacecraft being marketed and manufactured by us. As I mentioned, a revised statute on the procedure for manufacturing and operating launch vehicles and spacecraft has been drafted. And a statute for investigating the causes of incidents, accidents and disasters has been enacted. Departmental quality-control systems are becoming operational. At the same time, an entire package of documents regulating these activities is being upgraded. State commissions are finalising the statutes.

We are forced to change some existing proposals as regards modified approaches towards the line-up of state commissions, which oversee space launches. State commissions now comprise chairpersons and technical supervisors in line with a long-standing tradition. Both chairpersons and technical supervisors are responsible for the manufacture and testing of spacecraft. However, the launch vehicle and the booster are the most crucial elements of pre-launch operations at space centres. So we suggest modifying approaches towards the creation of state commissions during initial tests in line with these responsibilities.

As for spacecraft orbital testing, this system is absolutely up to the mark.

Slide 4 shows the main technical-support specs for a space system’s development. We have begun installing additional equipment at companies and are updating them. In your introductory remarks, you noted that software packages have been developed, and that specialised benches for assessing space-mission algorithms are being created. Future space-mission algorithms are developed and tested by independent divisions at our main R&D institute, rather than by their original designers. These independent divisions will assess space-mission algorithms all on their own, and independent of specific reports. We are preparing to centralise all experimental test benches, which will conduct final comprehensive tests of launch vehicles, spacecraft and propulsion units. In addition, automated information-and-analytical quality-control systems are almost ready. This includes systems for assessing the technical state and reliability of launch vehicles and spacecraft.

And now I would like to say a few words about personnel-training programmes. Our training centres provide an insight into well-known areas including the operation of the Soviet-era quality-control system. We are cooperating with the European Space Agency. This cooperation takes into account all the improvements in the Soviet-era quality-control system. In addition, we have assessed the introduction of this quality-control system in Europe. We have organised training courses for launch-vehicle and spacecraft developers to familiarise them with the quality-control system. We evaluate the proposals of those involved in these training courses, and we implement their proposals based on our regulatory documents. But, in our opinion, quality-control issues should become more far-reaching.

Right now, we are converting from a system, which controls the quality of previously designed products, to a quality-management system during the manufacture of these products. And we are suggesting this conversion. For this purpose, and considering foreign experience, we introduce quality-management parameters which enable specialists to compare specific results with design requirements and to expose various deviations as quickly as possible. This concerns preliminary-design and the testing of all components. Slide 7 shows this voluminous quality-control system in general.

There is an entire application, which shows … And this system is currently being streamlined with spacecraft for the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) and during several commercial projects. And we plan to spread this system to all projects in the near future.  

Mr Medvedev, speaking of the abortive August 6 launch, you were told that all human-resource decisions involved the top executives of the plant and companies affiliated with the Khrunichev Centre… Quite a few officials were dismissed there, and some of them were punished. Moreover, participants in an inter-departmental commission’s meeting have drafted a number of specific recommendations. Corporate executives have been briefed on these recommendations, and the recommendations are being fulfilled. This primarily implies a re-examination of design parameters and records making it possible to assess the critical aspects and technologies which were developed in the past and which, unfortunately, are not being controlled the way they should be today.

I have reported on current measures to improve the quality of launch vehicles and spacecraft and we have drafted a quality control action plan. This action plan encompasses all these aspects. With due consideration for your input, we will upgrade and approve this plan, and we will initiate it.

Apart from those aspects which directly influence product quality, other things need to be considered. Specifically, issues of the joint technological policy and issues pertaining to the industry’s organisation. The Federal Space Agency has drafted and coordinated proposals, which concern a strategy for developing Russia’s space activities up to 2030 and beyond, from late 2011 until the first half of 2012. The fundamentals of the Russian Federation’s policy for space activities are currently being coordinated. This document alone lists high-priority short-term, mid-term and long-term objectives. And naturally, a common technological policy stipulating the step-by-step achievement of specific goals, the maximum possible standardisation of launch vehicles and spacecraft, efforts to improve the industry’s potential and the development of technology should ensure the achievement of these objectives. The state of the industry today was also assessed based on this. An objective assessment of the world’s space activities shows that Russia retains its positions as a global leader in space exploration from the standpoint of science and technological development and from the standpoint of the spacecraft and the space-launch market. Russia boasts leading positions in some very important market segments. Most importantly, we have been able to maintain our position to date. We need to base the long-term development plan on our strengths. In an effort to retain our position, we need to solve a number of industry problems. Most importantly, we should revise the industry-management concept, focus on improved product quality, eliminate technological gaps and ensure a more cost-effective corporate performance. And we should consolidate the entire aerospace industry so it can achieve one single goal. In my opinion, this is the most important thing.

It should be noted that spacecraft research projects are governed by strong laws, which were formulated as a result of long-term work, mistakes and, in some cases, human fatalities. By honouring these laws, we can guarantee that we will achieve the sought-after technological results. Any industry reform should be based on this. In our opinion, this should help replace organisational integration with system integration. The latter would ensure the consolidation of the industry’s production, financial and managerial assets. At the same time, the economic interests of each party to such integration would not be relegated to the background. As per Presidential instruction, which were mentioned at a meeting of the Security Council and after that meeting, the Federal Space Agency is currently drafting these proposals, and we will be ready to report on such proposals with the help of all substantiating materials, and not perceive these proposals as a mere assertion.

Mr Medvedev, as for equipment quality, I would like to assure you once again that we have analysed every angle, and, of course, I believe that the above measures are bound to produce the desired results. And, we should forget about the developments in 2010, 2011 and unfortunately, in 2012. I have finished my report.

Dmitry Medvedev: You mentioned proposals regarding personal responsibility. I have created these proposals. You did not report back to me. You would not have done this if I hadn’t told you to sort things out. Mr Popovkin, you have reported rather calmly on the issue. And I would like to find out whether this is enough to elevate the current quality-control system to a new level or whether you need something else from the President or the Prime Minister. Please put it straight: What do you need in order to make the system work differently?

 Vladimir Popovkin: As I said, the corporate-management concept will change. This is the first thing.

As I see it, it will take time to deal with the corporations.

Second, the Federal Space Agency now employs fewer than 200 people. Of course, this creates problems in managing the 100-plus enterprises in the industry. Consequently…

Dmitry Medvedev: And will you still have problems with quality control if your staff grows to 400?

Vladimir Popovkin: This would ensure more detailed oversight. I believe that there would be no problems.

Dmitry Medvedev: I still get the impression that the equipment is assembled by companies rather than by the Federal Space Agency. Companies, not Roskosmos, should be responsible for quality control. All right, we will discuss this issue. I would like to hear from some of our colleagues today, to reassess quality-control issues and to formulate their proposals regarding the overall development of the aerospace industry. The public part is over. Let’s start the discussion.

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