Senator
McCain raps Air Force on Russian rocket engines
Send a link to a friend
[March 19, 2015]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator John
McCain on Wednesday criticized the U.S. Air Force's "troubling lack of
urgency" in ending dependence on Russian rocket engines for space
launches, saying there was still no strategy to replace them a year
after Moscow seized the Crimea.
|
"Continued reliance on Russian rocket engines is unacceptable and
it's time the Air Force conduct itself accordingly," McCain,
chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told a hearing with
senior Air Force officials.
McCain said Congress had given the Air Force $220 million this
fiscal year and set a deadline of 2019 for replacing the engine.
Congress is pushing for development of a U.S. engine amid rising
tensions between the United States and Russia over Moscow's
annexation last year of the Crimea region of Ukraine.
"Instead of giving the effort the level of attention needed, the Air
Force has wasted a year doing very little to end our reliance on
Russian rocket engines," McCain said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Mar/19/images/ads/current/napa_bch1-3108.png)
"If the Air Force is unwilling to do what is necessary to meet the
2019 deadline, they are going to have to figure out how to meet our
space launch needs without the RD-180 (Russian engine)," he said.
McCain made his remarks a day after Air Force officials told
lawmakers they planned to release a draft request for proposals next
month and could award initial study contracts by the end of the 2015
fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The officials said the Air Force planned to focus the competition on
launch services rather than development of a new American engine,
since any engine must be closely integrated with the rocket it
fuels.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Mar/19/images/ads/current/Immanuel_church_lda_031115.png)
McCain told Reuters after the hearing that he favored the Air
Force's more commercial approach, which would allow bidders to offer
their own designs.
The Russian-built RD-180 engine now powers the Atlas 5, one of two
rockets used by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed
Martin Corp and Boeing Co, which launches most big U.S. military and
intelligence satellites.
Privately held Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, expects to
be certified by June to compete for some of those launches, but it
may be years before its Falcon Heavy rocket is certified to launch
the heaviest intelligence satellites.
(Reporting by David Alexander and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Grant
McCool and Andre Grenon)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Mar/19/images/ads/current/best_friends_sda_010515.png) |