Pentagon request more Russian’rocket engines
In a letter to senior lawmakers dated May 11, the secretary of defense, Ashton B. Carter, and the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., said the Pentagon would face “significant challenges” to ensuring access to space for the most delicate military and intelligence missions if the ban on the Russian engines remained in place.
This position is backed by Boeing and LM
Energomash, the Russian company that makes the rocket engines, emerged from the old Soviet space program and formed a partnership with Lockheed Martin in the early 1990s to develop new technologies. It was a time when the United States sought to foster cooperation in space, in part to discourage the proliferation of rocket technology to countries that American officials viewed warily.
Along with Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney, Energomash adapted the RD-180 rocket engine for use in the Atlas series of rockets now made by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing alliance. The engine has been used in 54 launches of the latest version, the Atlas V, for commercial, NASA and military missions. In a statement, the United Launch Alliance called the RD-180 “a technologically advanced and reliable engine.”
Any early decision could shape the competition (b/w SpaceX and United Alliance (Bo/LM))
The debate now is over how many more missions the United Launch Alliance should be allowed to conduct with the Russian engines. The company has ordered 29 engines, 15 of which are paid for and planned for use. The Pentagon wants the company to be able to use the rest. The House legislation would do that, while the Senate version would allow the alliance to buy more engines only if it wins bids, presumably against SpaceX.
Source:
The New York Times
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