Energomash raises alarm over U.S. ban on Russian rocket engines

With no domestic demand for Energomash’s premier products — the RD-180 and RD-181 engines — the company faces a potentially daunting gap.

Op-ed | Building on a successful record in space to meet the challenges ahead

Let’s set the record straight on Russian rocket engines and next-generation American launch vehicles.

ASRC 3D prints fuel injector prototype for RD-180 successor

ASRC of Beltsville, Md., has test fired a subscale propellant injector built via additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, paving the way for a version that will be able to support whichever engine United Launch Alliance chooses to replace the Russian-built RD-180 on the Atlas 5 rocket.

Amendment to Senate bill allows continued imports of Russian rocket engines

Senators overwhelmingly passed an amendment to an Iran-Russia sanctions bill June 15 to fix language some argued could have prevented NASA and others from launching missions on rockets that use Russian engines.

RD-180 provider seeks additional ULA engine order

The new chief executive of the U.S.-Russian joint venture that provides RD-180 engines to United Launch Alliance said April 6 he hopes to win an order for additional engines.

Agreement on goals, but no easy answer for future of national security space launch, experts say

“Everybody agrees on the long term,” said William LaPlante, former Air Force assistant secretary for acquisition. But getting to those goals is the hard part.

Lawmakers press Air Force for decision on engine for ULA’s Vulcan rocket

In a letter, the representatives said the service should not provide funding for ULA's development of Vulcan unless it has "full access, oversight of, and approval rights over decision-making."

Nelson shepherds RD-180 compromise through U.S. Senate

The U.S. Senate approved a compromise June 14 that would give United Launch Alliance access to as many as 18 Russian RD-180 rocket engines to compete against SpaceX through 2022 for national security launch contracts.

Highlights from the Senate’s floor debate on the RD-180

Senators took to their chamber’s floor June 9 to discuss when United Launch Alliance should stop using Russian RD-180 rocket engines to launch national security satellites.

White House opposes Senate panel’s launch, milspace provisions

The White House said June 7 it would veto the Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the defense authorization bill for 2017, citing its objections to several military space sections of the bill, including four launch related provisions.

Former defense officials endorse McCain’s effort to limit government use of Russian engines

Monday's briefing begins with news that five former U.S. officials have backed Sen. John McCain's efforts to limit government use of Russian-manufactured RD-180 rockets.

White House “strongly objects” to defense bill’s launch provisions

The White House said it would veto an authorization bill from a House defense committee in part because of a series of restrictions it puts on the Air Force to develop a replacement for the Russian RD-180 rocket engine.

McCain’s committee halves HASC’s RD-180 allowance

The Senate Armed Services Committee marked up its version of a defense authorization bill with language that lowers the limit on RD-180 engines to 9, instead of the 18 in the House bill.

Competing amendments relax restrictions on Air Force rocket funding

Key members of the House Armed Services Committee are pushing competing amendments that would do the same thing: let the Air Force spend a bit more on projects not directly related to building a replacement for the Russian RD-180 engine.

HASC doubles Air Force allotment of RD-180 engines, focuses funding on building its replacement

The U.S. Air Force would have access to as many as 18 Russian RD-180 rocket engines under a bill the House Armed Services Committee approved April 28.

Op-ed | Why does the Air Force want to destroy the struggling U.S. space launch business?

Dan Gouré is  vice president of the Lexington Institute, an Arlington, Va-based think tank that receives money from Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

The U.S. Air Force appears to have formulated the perf…

Draft House bill would scramble Air Force’s rocket engine plan

The House Armed Services Committee is set to take up an authorization bill this week that would insist the Pentagon invest in a new main stage engine — not an upper stage engine, strap-on motors or launch vehicles as the Air Force has planned — as the cornerstone of its effort to wean itself from the Russian RD-180 rocket engine.

Aerojet Rocketdyne pitches AR1 as the only direct replacement for RD-180

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Julie Van Kleeck pitched the AR1 rocket engine to a roomful of reporters Tuesday morning as the only direct replacement for the reliable but politically polarizing Russian engine that powers the Atlas 5 rocket.

ULA confirms engine issue on latest Atlas launch

The upper stage of the Atlas 5 that launched a Cygnus cargo spacecraft March 22 fired for more than a minute longer than planned, apparently to compensate for the premature shut down of the rocket’s first stage engine.

McCain calls for investigation of fired ULA executive’s controversial comments

U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is asking the Defense Department to investigate comments made earlier this week by a now-former United Launch Alliance executive.