Fwd: Lawmakers Appear Divided on Relaxing Terms of RD-180 Ban

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: March 23, 2015 at 11:25:29 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Lawmakers Appear Divided on Relaxing Terms of RD-180 Ban

 

 

 

Lawmakers Appear Divided on Relaxing Terms of RD-180 Ban

by Mike Gruss — March 20, 2015

Under the most conservative reading of the RD-180 ban for national security launches, ULA would have only five RD-180 engines available for the competitions, which are slated to begin this year and could cover nine launches over the next three years. Credit: NASA Kennedy

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's congressional overseers appear divided over the timetable for weaning the U.S. Air Force from a controversial Russian rocket engine, a matter that sources say likely will not be settled until House and Senate lawmakers meet later this year to finalize the 2016 defense authorization bill.

At issue is the RD-180, the main engine on United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket, which launches the majority of U.S. national security satellites. Denver-based ULA operates two main rockets, the other being the Delta 4, which, though powered by an American-made engine, is 25 percent more expensive and used less frequently than the Atlas 5.

In response to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year, Congress mandated that the Air Force stop using the RD-180 and begin work on a U.S.-built replacement. That language was finalized late last year in conference negotiations on the 2015 defense authorization bill between a group of lawmakers informally known as the Big Four — the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate armed services committees.

But in recent weeks, the Defense Department and ULA have complained that the law is too restrictive and would hamstring the company in upcoming launch competitions against emerging rival SpaceX. Under the most conservative reading of the law, ULA would have only five RD-180 engines available for the competitions, which are slated to begin this year and could cover nine launches over the next three years.

U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James. Credit: Center for Strategic & International Studies

Moreover, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has warned Congress that the law's 2019 deadline for fielding a new American-made rocket engine is unrealistic, meaning the presumptive beneficiary of the program, ULA, which has announced plans to phase out the Delta 4, would effectively be relegated to the sidelines.

ULA and the Air Force are pushing for a relaxation of the ban. Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX argues that there is no need to change the language, while members of Congress appear to be split.

In a hearing March 17, Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, said a change in the law might be necessary to make clear that Congress' intent was for ULA to have enough RD-180s to compete through 2018 and avoid giving SpaceX, whose Falcon 9 rocket is awaiting Air Force certification, a monopoly on intermediate-class missions. Under that scenario, the Defense Department would benefit from the lower prices resulting from competition.

A day earlier, however, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the full House Armed Services Committee, was more guarded, saying lawmakers "would want to understand much more clearly why they don't think that we can have an American engine" by 2019 before they would be inclined to tweak the language. He added, "I would say the anxieties about being dependent upon a Russian engine have only grown" since last year.

U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz). Credit: Roll Call video capture

Key members of the Senate appear even less sympathetic to the Pentagon-ULA arguments. Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, left little ambiguity about his position during a hearing March 18, accusing the Air Force of dragging its feet on a new engine, for which Congress appropriated $220 million this year.

"Instead of giving this 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. "If the Air Force is unwilling to do what's 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."

Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), meanwhile, wrote Defense Secretary Ashton Carter March 10 to express concern over what they see as Air Force inertia. "Given the urgency of the situation and clear guidance from Congress, I am concerned at the lack of action exhibited by DOD and the Air Force," they said.

Air Force officials argue that under the law as currently written, the Defense Department could wind up merely trading ULA's current monopoly for a SpaceX monopoly in the intermediate-class market.
"Without relief from this language, coupled with ULA's recent decision to retire the non-price competitive Delta medium-class launch vehicle, we will no longer meet our long standing assured access to space policy, where we attempt, to the maximum extent practicable, to have two paths to space for each of our satellites," said Bill LaPlante, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition.

ULA Chief Executive Tory Bruno has said the company intends to phase out the intermediate class, or single-core, version of the Delta 4, which is similar in capability to the Atlas 5, as early as 2018. Because there is no heavy-lift variant of the Atlas 5, the company will continue flying the triple-core Delta 4 Heavy as long as the Air Force wants, he said.

Bruno has said that the RD-180 ban should be delayed until an American-alternative is ready.

For its part, SpaceX argues that as long as the Delta 4 exists there is no need to relax the bill language. "Not a single additional RD-180 is necessary to ensure American access to space," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said during the March 17 hearing. "Two American-made launch vehicle families, the ULA Delta 4 series of rockets, and the SpaceX Falcon rockets, have the capability to fulfill 100 percent of the nation's launch requirements."

Meanwhile, the Air Force said March 17 that it plans to issue a draft solicitation for new engine concepts in early April. LaPlante said Air Force is also planning to pay for the new engine via a public-private partnership that is "dependent on the level of maturity of the prospective rocket engines."

ULA is working with Blue Origin on the BE-4, a liquid natural gas-fueled engine that Bruno has said will not be ready to fly Air Force missions before 2021. Aerojet Rocketdyne of Sacramento, California, also is working on an RD-180 alternative dubbed the AR-1 and says it can meet the 2019 deadline, although ULA and Air Force officials remain skeptical.

LaPlante said the Air Force also is planning a broad area announcement for developing software tools for modeling combustion stability, advances in heat-resistant coatings, and fuel injection components. That technology would be made available to industry for the new engine program, he said.

 

McCain Accuses Air Force of Stalling on RD-180 Replacement

by Mike Gruss — March 19, 2015

"Russia annexed Crimea over a year ago, yet the Air Force does not even have an acquisition strategy yet for a new rocket engine," U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in his opening statement for an Army and Air Force hearing. Credit: Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Air Force has "wasted a year doing very little" to end the Defense Department's reliance on Russian rocket engines to launch national security satellites.

"Russia annexed Crimea over a year ago, yet the Air Force does not even have an acquisition strategy yet for a new rocket engine," McCain said March 18 in his opening statement for an Army and Air Force hearing. "Instead of giving this effort the level of attention needed, the Air Force has wasted a year doing very little to end our reliance on Russian rocket engines. If the Air Force is unwilling to do what's 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."

The RD-180 is the main engine on United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket, which along with that company's Delta 4 rocket launches virtually all U.S. national security satellites. Following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year, Congress mandated that the Air Force stop using the RD-180 and begin work on a U.S.-built replacement.

Congress reprogrammed $40 million for the new engine in fiscal year 2014 and allocated $220 million in 2015, directing that it be ready by 2019. Air Force officials said March 17 they could issue a draft solicitation for new engine concepts as early as April.

But McCain and other lawmakers have grown increasingly critical of the service's pace on the project.

Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) took up the matter in a March 10 letter to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. "Given the urgency of the situation and clear guidance from Congress, I am concerned at the lack of action exhibited by DOD and the Air Force," they said.

Air Force and ULA officials have argued that the schedule mandated by Congress for fielding a new American-made engine is unrealistic and are seeking a relaxation of the RD-180 ban so the company can buy more of the Russian-made engines.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters March 16 he wanted the Air Force to explain why an American-made rocket engine can not be ready by 2019 before he would consider easing or lifting a ban on Russian-made engines.

Nonetheless, there does seem to be some congressional support for easing the ban.

BE-4 rocket engine. Credit: Blue Origin

ULA Chief Executive Tory Bruno says the RD-180 ban should be delayed until an American alternative is ready. Denver-based ULA is working with Blue Origin on the BE-4, a liquid natural gas-fueled engine that Bruno has said will not be ready to fly Air Force missions before 2021.

Aerojet Rocketdne of Sacramento, California, also is working on an RD-180 alternative dubbed the AR-1 and says it can meet the 2019 deadline, but Pentagon officials remain skeptical.

McCain has been a vocal critic of the Air Force's satellite-launching program in recent years due to its high cost. In February, he accused the Air Force of "actively keeping" rocket maker SpaceX out of the national security launch market. SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, is challenging ULA's monopoly with its Falcon 9 rocket, which expected to win Air Force certification to launch national security missions by midyear.

 

 © 2015 SpaceNews, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

---