USC has 9 contracts to sign with defense ministry

02.09.2011 United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) and Russian Defense Ministry have 9 large contracts to sign under State Defense Order 2011, reported RIA Novosti on Sept 1 referring to the company's official representative.

Aug 31 was a deadline set by Prime Minister Putin to tie contracts between defense ministry and military-oriented companies under state defense order. Russian defense minister Anatoly Serdiukov said on Sept 1 that the ministry had tied all defense contracts except for United Shipbuilding Corporation.

"As for now, we have not signed 9 contracts with defense ministry, including the largest ones with Sevmash shipyard", said the USC spokesman.

Sevmash is supposed to deliver to the Navy one Project 855 Yasen nuclear-powered attack submarine and two Project 955 Borei nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines which are platforms for SLBM Bulava.

"Submarines of projects 955 and 885 are equipped with new equipment. It is possible to sign long-term contracts with its suppliers only after completion of the first two serial subs in order to finally determine prices and parameters", said the interviewee.

He specified that USC and defense ministry presently negotiate on the price of each submarine being built by Sevmash. As for him, the corporation will sign fixed-price contracts with defense ministry in 2013, "that will be contracts for the period until 2018 considering deflator rates set by Ministry of Economy Development (3.5% till 2016 and 2.5% - since 2016 till 2018)".

Earlier on, USC officials said they had 13 non-signed contracts with defense ministry to the overall sum of RUR 40 bln. According to the interviewee, "talks on prices are currently in progress, and we're going to tie several small contracts on Friday".

Volume of Russia's state defense order in 2011 will make RUR 750 bln which is 1.5 as much as in last year.

United Shipbuilding Corporation is the largest shipbuilding and ship-repair company in Russia. It was established in 2007 and comprises over 42 Russian shipyards and design bureaus. Currently, it consists of three regional branches: Western Shipbuilding Center (St. Petersburg), Northern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Center (Severodvinsk), and Far East Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Center (Vladivostok). The state controls 100% shares of the corporation.