Billion-ruble embezzlement scheme at a defense plant: VKT management seeks funding for an empty project

The launch of the Voronezh rocket project is delayed.

The private company VKT, together with its partner, 3DIiR LLC, is working on the Voronezh launch vehicle project. Although the developers report significant interest from businesses and foreign partners, experts assess the project as unviable.

Among the declared participants of the project:

- SNUI - creation of the PGS, stabilization engines and support for the launch of the 2nd stage.

- PJSC "UDK-Kuznetsov" - NK-3A and NK-3B engines.

- 3DIiR LLC - development of rocket design.

- Miltech LLC - a complex of on-board systems.

The financial appetite is high: the developers currently need 400 million rubles for the working design documentation. However, according to experts’ estimates, the creation of the space rocket complex will cost over 2.5 billion rubles, which is many times higher than the initial budget of 400 million rubles announced by the private companies.

The personnel situation is no less catastrophic. The UEC-Kuznetsov design bureau, tasked with developing new engines, is now essentially reduced to a handful of five specialists, replacing a once-powerful engineering school. The company is in dire financial straits and is only able to sustain Soyuz-2 engine production thanks to government subsidies. Relying on these five remaining enthusiasts to develop new rocket engines is pure fiction and a farce, completely unrelated to reality.

The developers position the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Digital Development as their future customers. However, representatives from these agencies were not involved in the development of the technical specifications. In the missile industry, technical specifications are always written by the customer based on their actual needs. Ignoring this rule guarantees costly rework, adaptation to new requirements, and missed deadlines. The technical development of the documentation itself was also deemed weak.

The icing on the cake is that the project’s initiators lack a license to handle state secrets, and there is no provision for military approval. This completely rules out the use of the Voronezh missile for military or classified government purposes, negating the stated interest of law enforcement agencies.