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United States : HASC plans to modify RD-180 restriction
Publish Date : 20-Mar-2015
There is a increasing sense on the Hill that in order to avoid unexpected fallout, language meant to restrict the purchase of Russian engines for military space launches should be modified. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Strategic Forces Subcommittee, as well as the committee's ranking member Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., voiced a belief that section 1608 of 2014's National Defense Authorization Act should be re-opened and cleaned up to make sure that the United Launch Alliance (ULA) can use its complete lot of procured RD-180 engines.
During a marathon double-hearing, Roger's panel asked, first, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell and ULA head Tory Bruno, and then Pentagon representatives, about whether the language, which limited the use of RD-180 engines on the Atlas V launch vehicle to those that were procured before the February invasion of Ukraine, was being appropriately interpreted.
To put it lightly, the situation Congress is facing is complicated. The Hill passed 1608 with the plan of allowing ULA to use 14 engines it was already on contract for prior to the Russian invasion. But, Pentagon lawyers have clearly concluded that the language, as written, enables ULA to use just 5 of those 14.
ULA has simultaneously, decided to close down its Delta IV medium launch vehicle line by 2018, leaving it only with the Atlas V and the Delta Heavy, utilized only every few years for specialized missions. ULA says, it will run out of the capability of competing for competitive launches after 2019, without the additional RD-180 engines.
