Information Satellite Systems (ISS, Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai) manufactured eight Glonass-M spacecraft in order to be able to replace a spacecraft in GLONASS orbital constellation if necessary, Interfax reports with reference to ISS CEO Nikolay Testoedov.

“We have reserved enough satellites. We have eight Glonass-M satellites in stock. We are manufacturing the ninth one. These spacecraft may be launched in 2015-2017 on an ongoing basis, assuring stable functioning of the orbital constellation,” Testoedov said at Le Bourget 2015 airshow.

He reminded that Roscosmos and Russian Ministry of Defense made a decision to launch the satellites on an ongoing basis. “The functioning of the constellation is stable. All the spacecraft are in operation. Yes, some of them have certain restriction in terms of system redundancy, but not in terms of functionality. That is why today we are not considering the possibility of launching more spacecraft,” ISS CEO said.

He added that mass production of Glonass-K1 spacecraft has been started.

“These are the next-generation spacecraft. They are unpressurized and have more functions; the spacecraft offer better performance in terms of navigation signal and precision of an onboard clock. These satellites will be assuring development of GLONASS constellation in 2017-2019,” ISS CEO said.

According to him, the decisions made will “assure stable functioning of the constellation and provision of free navigation signal”.