Sen. John McCain is introducing legislation on Thursday to prohibit the use of Russian-made rockets in the U.S. space program, but analysts predict it will face resistance from his own party.
The U.S. has two private companies capable of launching Air Force satellites into space: SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, which is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. While SpaceX has its own rocket launch system, ULA still relies on Russian-made RD-180 rocket engines.
After Russian-backed separatists annexed Crimea, lawmakers decided the U.S. could no longer rely on Russia for its national security needs and ordered the Air Force to stop using the Russian engines in its launches as quickly as possible.
But lawmakers slipped language into the omnibus in section 8048 that would allow ULA to continue using the Russian-made engines, something McCain intends to strip out in the bill he’s introducing with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
“It’s outrageous, it’s disgraceful and when we do things like that, we shouldn’t wonder why the American people support outsiders to be commander in chief,” McCain told the Washington Examiner.
Asked if he expected the bill to have bipartisan support, McCain said “I hope so.”
Pentagon officials, including Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, laid out their argument for more time to transition to U.S.-made rocket engines in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday morning. James said she is on board with the need to end America’s reliance on Russia, but needs more time to ensure national security space launches don’t become a monopoly.
Some members of McCain’s own party have already suggested that they may side with the service, providing more time to work on a suitable replacement for the engines and keeping two companies able to compete for launches.
“I definitely share his goals about moving off the Russian rocket, but the Defense Department has laid out a plan to do that. It’s taking longer than we desired,” Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said. “I’m sympathetic to their views.”
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has also been an outspoken supporter of allowing the service to use the Russian engines in its launches. ULA’s rocket facility is in Alabama.
Shelby’s office released a fact sheet on Wednesday afternoon titled, “Claim vs. Reality: Setting the record straight on the RD-180.” In the fact sheet, Shelby refutes several of McCain’s claims.
The release notes that the U.S. imported $27 billion in goods from Russia in 2013. Of that, only about $88 million or 0.325 percent was spent on Russian rocket engines. It also lays out some consequences and gaps in capabilities that could result from cutting off the Air Force’s access to the Russian engines.
Justin Johnson, a defense analyst with the Heritage Foundation, said he doesn’t expect the bill from McCain and McCarthy to go very far.
“Getting 60 votes in the Senate to move that bill is probably going to be a challenge for policy reasons, but also there’s a lot of other things on the plate right now,” Johnson said. “Getting time and attention for this particular issue would be challenging.”
He also noted that the Pentagon is likely to oppose the bill, setting up a position in which the White House would not support and sign it into law even if Congress was able to pass it.
