In 2016, the leadership of Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade charted a course that simultaneously backed Rosatom and energized Russia’s composite materials sector. As observed by Alexei Likhachev, then a key figure at Rosatom, the domestic share of components lagged behind imports in that period. Yet, over subsequent years, Rosatom’s component division logged a remarkable growth, with revenue multiplying roughly fifteenfold and the country achieving full import substitution for many critical elements.
Alexei Likhachev, president of Rosatom, highlighted at a plenary session focused on shaping the future of Russia’s domestic composites industry in the face of evolving challenges and opportunities that the sector once constructed, roughly in the 1970s, composites were tied to centrifuge technology used for uranium enrichment. The panel noted that much of the knowledge and capability in this field was eroded in the turbulent 1990s. Although smaller lines of involvement persisted in the nuclear arena during the early years of the new century, those efforts reflected technologies that belonged to a prior era.
Post-2016, Russia’s composite industry began developing under a dedicated division within Yumatex, a Rosatom subsidiary, signaling a formal shift toward diversified, civilian, and strategic uses of composite solutions beyond the traditional nuclear context.
“Today, the industry operates at a different level. When composite solutions are applied, notable cost savings materialize across a wide spectrum of products, spanning civil applications and private enterprise alike,” Likhachev remarked, underscoring the practical gains from modern materials engineering and manufacturing processes.
The executive stressed that a new roadmap, endorsed the previous year, set ambitious targets for advancing the industry. The plan emphasized accelerating progress toward end products, achieving a more self-contained production cycle with an expanded array of core components, and cultivating a new generation of skilled workers in composites who could sustain a closed-loop ecosystem.
During the forum, officials announced the establishment of a new manufacturing facility dedicated to wind turbine blades in partnership with the Ulyanovsk region, signaling a strategic entry point for Russia’s wind energy supply chain and its push to localize high-tech manufacturing while reducing import reliance. Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Yevtukhov, present at the plenary, outlined ongoing state support for composite materials and noted that more than 150 projects are currently under way, collectively drawing investment exceeding 160 billion rubles. He also highlighted continued support for research and development as a core element of the national strategy, pointing to the inclusion of composite materials in large-scale projects and proposing the use of a cluster investment platform. This instrument is described as a financing mechanism that creates favorable conditions for fundraising at advantageous interest rates over defined time horizons, thereby facilitating the launch and expansion of materials-driven initiatives across the economy. The emphasis remained on producing competitive, in-demand products capable of underpinning domestic industrial resilience (official summaries from the Rosatom forum).