National security missions in
space
House-Senate Conference Measure To End Pentagon Use of RD-180
By Mike Gruss | Dec.
2, 2014
The RD-180 is the main
engine on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket, one of two vehicles the
company uses to launch most U.S. government satellites and virtually all
national security missions. Credit: ULA photo
WASHINGTON — U.S.
lawmakers have finalized legislation that will prohibit the future use of a
Russian-built rocket engine that is routinely used to launch U.S. national
security satellites.
The National Defense
Authorization Act for fiscal year 2015, recently finalized by House and Senate
negotiators, also requires the Defense Department to replace the Russian
engine, dubbed RD-180, with an American-made propulsion system by 2019.
SpaceNews obtained a
summary of the compromise bill, which is expected to be voted on in the House
later this week.
The RD-180 is the main
engine on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket, one of two vehicles the
company uses to launch most U.S. government satellites and virtually all
national security missions.
The RD-180 is built by
NPO Energomash of Russia and sold to ULA by RD-Amross, a joint venture between
Energomash and United Technologies Corp. The arrangement has come under fire
from Capitol Hill and elsewhere due to the deterioration in U.S.-Russian
relations, which accelerated this year over the crisis in Ukraine.
The U.S. Air Force
last year awarded ULA an $11 billion sole-source contract for Atlas 5 and Delta
4 rockets that runs through 2019. The RD-180s ordered as part of this contract
are exempt from the pending legislation, according to the conference report
summary.
The conference measure
also retains the framework of language, inserted into the Senate version of the
bill by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), that bars the Pentagon from signing new
contracts or renewing existing contracts with launch companies that rely on
Russian suppliers.
The Defense Department
had asked lawmakers to strike that provision from the bill during conference
out of concern that it could immediately hamper its ability to launch
satellites.
The compromise
legislation does, however, allow for a waiver process for national security
missions “if space launch services cannot be obtained at a fair and reasonable
price without the use of the Russian RD-180 engines,” the summary said…
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