Airbus Defence and Space  Khrunichev Centre started negotiating the use of Angara booster instead Rokot, – the spokesman reports.

Airbus Defence and Space and Khrunichev Centre are the partners in joint Eurockot Launch Services enterprise founded in 1995.

Eurockot Launch Services was established for Rokot light boosters marketing.

According to the spokesman the main reason of the negotiations is expiration of  service term of RS-18B ballistic missile that are being used as Rockot boosters

According to the spokesman the main reason of the negotiations is the fact that service limit (31 years) of RS-18B ballistic missile being used as Rockot boosters will expire in 2016 and prolongation is considered unpractical. According to Roscosmos spokesman Rokot will be launched not more than 5 times: with European Sentinel satellites and Russian Gonets space devices.

“It was initially known that   service period of these rockets is limited and we understand that our cooperation on Rockets comes to an end. That’s why we discuss with Khrunichev Centre further cooperation on other boosters in the framework of our joint enterprise Eurockot Launch Services”. – Airbus Defence and Space CIS branch manager Vladimir Terekhov said .

“Soon Eurockot shareholders supervisory board meeting will take place to discuss  Company activity issues”, – Khrunichev Centre official representative Alexander Shmygov stated.

For now there was only one test launch of Angara light booster performed from Plesetsk spaceport. The price of these boosters is not quoted.