McCain criticizes Air Force on launch cost estimates

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee this week sent a letter to Air Force leadership questioning estimates of the cost of eliminating the service's use of the RD-180-propelled Atlas V launch vehicle.

In an April 12 letter, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) writes that Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James misrepresented the potential cost to transition away from United Launch Alliance's Atlas V and toward a manifest flown by ULA's more expensive Delta IV and SpaceX's Falcon 9.

James testified in March it would cost between $1.5 billion and $5 billion to split future launches between the two vehicles. The range depends on a number of variables, she said, including when a ban on the Russian-made RD-180 would take effect.

However, McCain states in his letter that he requested an analysis of James' numbers from the Pentagon's cost assessment and program evaluation office, which found that "the cost of meeting assured access to space requirements without the use of Russian rocket engines would be similar to what we pay today."

"Contrary to the estimates you provided to me in private, I am left to conclude that your decision to publicly cite a figure as high as $5 billion was done so to obfuscate efforts to responsibly transition off of the RD-180 before the end of the decade," McCain wrote. "I invite you to clarify the record in the context of proposals actually being considered by the committee."

McCain also cited a study conducted by a retired Air Force general that found the "least risky" option for moving off RD-180 reliance would be to split the service's manifest between the Delta IV and Falcon 9. McCain notes he has been requesting a briefing on the study for more than a month with no response from the service and asks in his letter that the Air Force provide full access to the study no later than April 20.