The House Armed Services Committee chairman shot down the Air Force’s request to develop a new commercial launch system to get to space, instead forcing the service to focus on an American-made rocket engine to end reliance on Russia.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, released his draft of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act on Monday. The bill authorizes the Air Force to use taxpayer dollars to design a new rocket engine to replace the RD-180 made in Russia, but not an American launch system more broadly.
That includes development of a main booster, first-stage rocket engine or motor. It does not include a launch vehicle, upper stage, strap-on motor or related infrastructure, according to the bill.
The Air Force uses two private contractors to launch satellites into space: SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, the latter being a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. While SpaceX has its own technology to conduct the launches, ULA relies on the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engines.
Lawmakers across the board have been critical of U.S. reliance on Russia, but some lawmakers are more understanding of the service’s argument that the U.S. must use RD-180s in the short term to assure access to space. Others, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the more vocal critics of the program, believe that the military must cut its reliance on Russia immediately.
The back and forth has been one of the more contentious fights between defense appropriators and defense authorizers.
The Air Force has said it needs access to 18 RD-180s through fiscal 2019 to assure the service can launch satellites into space.
While the House draft of the defense policy bill allows the use of federal funds to design and build an American-made engine, it denies the service’s request to fund development of a complete launch system.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James asked senators in January to allow the service to use authorized money for more than just engine development.
“We believe this is the best approach to achieve our mandate of assured access to space with two certified, commercially competitive domestic launch providers,” she said.
