Senate reaches RD-180 compromise

The Senate's version of the fiscal year 2016 defense policy bill includes a provision that would prohibit contract awards for launches using the Russian made RD-180 rocket engine after 2022.

The bill, which passed today in an 85-13 vote, represents a compromise between authorizers who wanted to severely limit the number of RD-180 engines available for U.S. government missions, and appropriators who wanted to lift all restrictions on the use of the engine for competitive launches. The original bill that was marked up by the Senate Armed Services Committee did not contain this provision.

The RD-180 powers United Launch Alliance's Atlas V launch vehicle. The Air Force has said the company needs access to at least 18 of the engines in order to compete for national security launches until a new launch vehicle -- one not dependent on the Russian propulsion system -- is available in the early 2020s.

In a June 14 statement, Sen Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) praised the compromise.

"For the first time, Senate authorizers and appropriators agreed to a legislative cutoff date for the use of Russian rocket engines in national security space launches," McCain said. "It provides a sustainable path to achieve the broadly shared goal of assured access to space, competition in national security space launch, and ending our dependence on Russian engines."

The issue has, since 2015, been an annual debate over how soon to cut off the engine supply, McCain said. The proposed resolution in the Senate's bill reflects a shared concern that "year-to-year litigation of this issue did not serve the Congress, U.S. space policy, or our national security well."

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) -- a proponent of maintaining a supply of RD-180 engines until the Defense Department has developed a viable alternative -- called the amendment "a significant victory for national security."

"While we can all agree that the U.S. should not be dependent upon any foreign power -- especially in the national security arena -- it would have been far too dangerous to hastily restrict the use of the RD-180 before an American-made rocket engine is developed," Shelby said in a statement today.