While Glavkosmos has a share in GK Launch Services, the marketing arm for Soyuz rockets, it will now get another body under its umbrella. By order of Roscosmos, Glavkosmos will now take over control of International Launch Services (ILS), the marketer of the Proton rocket produced by Khrunichev.
Poster for ILS Proton launch of Amazonas 5. Courtesy: ILS
ILS was recently dealt a blow by Roscosmos after it decided to concentrate its resources rather than a new cheaper-to-produce reduced stage version of the venerable expendable Proton launch vehicle dubbed the Proton Medium with which ILS hopped to compete with SpaceX’s very much cheaper part reusable Falcon 9 series. Neverthless, ILS still hopes to cut the price of its standard three stage plus upper stage Proton M Breeze M launch vehicle – a rocket that has been dogged by quality control issues – to make it competitive
