Air Force confident its 'launch needs will be met' in face of Russian rocket-engine delivery halt

ORLANDO, FL -- The Air Force's "launch needs will be met" despite Russia's decision Thursday to halt deliveries of rocket engines to the United States, according to service Secretary Frank Kendall.

Kendall, who spoke with reporters during a media roundtable at the Air Force Association’s Warfare Symposium here, said he has not yet been briefed on “any major launch concerns associated with” Russian space agency Roscosmos’ announcement that it will no longer be supplying the engines in retaliation for U.S. sanctions of the country stemming from its Ukraine invasion.

Reuters reported that Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, said on Russian state television that officials “can't supply the United States with our world's best rocket engines. Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don't know what.”

The Pentagon has spent years working to end the reliance on the Russian-made RD-180 engines, which power the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V launch vehicle. The congressionally mandated ban is set to take effect this year.

A ULA spokeswoman told Inside Defense that the company has all the engines it needs to fly the remaining Atlas V missions. And she noted those engines “are safely stored in our factory in Decatur, AL.”

Kendall, who played a key role in designing the National Security Space Launch strategy in his previous post as Pentagon acquisition chief, noted that ULA is “moving toward a different solution that doesn’t involve” Russia’s RD-180, while other companies, like SpaceX, have emerged as suppliers.

The Space Force in August 2020 picked ULA and SpaceX to receive contracts tied to Phase 2 of the Launch Services Procurement program, splitting the deals 60% to 40% for the NSSL order period that spans five years. ULA is preparing to transition to the Vulcan rocket, powered by Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine, though the effort has experienced a schedule slip.

“The whole point of the program we put into place several years ago was to work our way off of the RD-180,” Kendall noted.