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14F01 Neutron

NPO Mashinostroyeniya (NPOMash) (the former Chelomei design bureau) appears to be working on a military satellite called "Neitron" ("Neutron"), also known by the military designator 14F01. This can be deduced from a handful of procurement and court documents as well as company annual reports openly available on the Internet. Two of these reports that the contract between the Ministry of Defense and NPOMash (nr. 6597) for the development of the satellites was signed on 27 December 2011.

Subcontractors known to be involved are :

• NPO Lavochkin for "adaptation of the launch vehicle" (contract nr. 102/19-13 signed on 4 March 2013)
• Russian Institute for Radio Navigation and Time (RIRV) for the APSN satellite navigation equipment (contract nr. 79/19-13 signed on 18 February 2013)
• NIIEM for multiplex channel information relay equipment for the satellite's control system (contract nr. 629/19-12 signed on 31 August 2012) (this was also the subject of a separate contract between NIIEM and ZAO Elkus in 2015)
• NIIEM for a "computer system for automatic electrical tests of the satellite" (contract nr. 189/19-13 signed on 3 April 2013)
• AO AVEKS for power supply control equipment (mentioned on the company's website and in of its quarterly reports for 2015)
• NPP Geofizika for earth and sun sensors (mentioned in the company's annual report for 2015)
• NPP Kvant for solar arrays (according to a procurement document published in September 2015)
• OAO TsKB TM for transportation containers (mentioned in the company's 2013 annual report)

14K241 would appear to be the index for Neitron’s so-called “rocket and space complex” (RKK), which is a term used for the combination of the rocket, the payload and the cosmodrome infrastructure needed to prepare them for launch. This is not to be confused with 14K171, which is the index for the “space complex”, which encompasses the rocket and space complex, the ground control infrastructure and the orbiting satellite(s). 14F01 is the designator for the individual satellite(s).

"In early February, the Kosmos-2553 satellite was launched . Nothing was officially announced about the purpose of its launch, but we know that in fact this satellite is called Neutron, military index 14F01, it was developed by the Moscow NPO Mashinostroenie, and they specialize specifically in radar satellites. If Neutron is a radar satellite, then this is the first such launch in almost 10 years,” says Bart Hendrix.

The carrier rocket "Soyuz-2.1a" with a military satellite was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome on February 5. The satellite with the assigned serial number "Cosmos-2553" successfully reached the target orbit, specialists of the Space Forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces established contact with it. Director General of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin congratulated the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces (VKS) of the Russian Federation Sergey Surovikin on the first launch of a space rocket in 2022. The satellite of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, launched into low Earth orbit, was accepted for control of ground assets of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces of Russia. This was reported by the press service of Roscosmos 06 February 2022.

“The Kosmos-2553 technological spacecraft is equipped with newly developed on-board instruments and systems for their testing under conditions of exposure to radiation and heavy charged particles ,” Roscosmos said about the purpose of the satellite launched into orbit. The launch from the Plesetsk cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation became the first Russian space launch in 2022. In total, about 30 launches of Russian carriers are planned for this year. In 2021, Russia held 25 starts.

American observers are sure that this device is built on the platform of the reconnaissance "Kondor", which was created in the same NPO "Mashinostroenie".