"We have every reason to say that in three or four years the test of the system may start, in five years the first batch will be put into service by the army," the State Space Agency head said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.
According to him, the developer of the Sapsan missile system (the Dnipropetrovsk-based Pivdenne Design Bureau) has prepared the project of the new tactical missile system, the government funding of the program will start in 2012.
The financing of the program in 2012 approved by the Ukrainian government will be UAH 195 million, Alekseyev said.
Some 70 enterprises of Ukraine’s aerospace and defense industries will take part in the project to create the Sapsan multi-functional missile complex, and 99% of its components will be produced in Ukraine.
The Sapsan MFMC is among the key programs in the Ukrainian draft state armament program for a period until 2015.
The Sapsan should combine the features of tactical, tactical missile complexes and multiple rocket launchers.
The missile range stated by the developer (the Pivdenne Design Bureau in Dnipropetrovsk) is up to 280 kilometers.