Hyten: Clear Message on RD-180 Replacement as SpaceX Certification Looms | Defense News | defensenews.com: The US Air Force’s point man on space acknowledged Friday what he called “clear” direction from Congress to move away from the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine, but warned there are many details to be worked out before a replacement is selected.
“The language is clear,” Gen. John Hyten, head of Air Force Space Command, told an audience at an Air Force Association event. “The intent of the congress is to get off the RD-180 by FY19.”
Hyten was referring to language in the compromise National Defense Authorization Act that prohibits the use of the RD-180 for military space launch starting in fiscal 2019. The language is very close to what Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., had requested in the Senate Armed Services Committee markup of the NDAA, a position the Air Force had opposed as too limiting.
The RD-180, a key component in the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V launch vehicle, has become a source of controversy since Russia’s invasion of Crimea. ULA has a monopoly on military space launch through the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.
