U.S. Air Force says may revisit rocket plan if firms do not respond | Reuters: The U.S. Air Force may have to revisit its strategy to develop a new U.S.-fueled launch vehicle aimed at ending American reliance on Russian rocket engines if U.S. companies fail to bid to build prototypes for the government, a senior general said Tuesday.
Lieutenant General Ellen Pawlikowski, the Air Force's top military acquisition official, said she had received positive feedback from some companies about a draft request for proposals on the Air Force's approach, but other companies were "not so happy". She declined to name the firms.
Air Force Secretary Deborah James last week said the Air Force expects to finalize the terms of the competition by the end of May, and could award contracts for prototypes of new U.S.-fueled launch vehicles as early as September.
Pawlikowski told reporters at a Women in Aerospace conference that the involvement of private firms - Blue Origin run by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk's SpaceX or Space Exploration Technologies - complicated the situation since neither company's engine work relied on government funding.
