Air Force awards more rocket engine technology deals

The Air Force has issued two more contract awards to develop a new, domestically produced rocket engine.

The contracts were awarded this week under a broad agency announcement meant to help mature booster propulsion technology as part of the Air Force's effort to build a new, domestically produced rocket engine to replace the Russian-made RD-180.

The awards -- $935,696 to Johns Hopkins University and $728,337 to Moog, Inc. -- are the third and fourth to be issued under the BAA. The service plans to issue at least six and as many as eight contracts totaling about $35 million. Awards will continue into early 2016.

The imperative to replace the RD-180 with a new rocket engine is driven by a congressional ban on the engine's use after 2019. The booster powers United Launch Alliance's Atlas V launch vehicle.