House committee approves more rockets for Decatur joint venture

ULA Tour

The United Launch Alliance facility in Decatur. (The Huntsville TImes/Bob Gathany)

The House Armed Services Committee approved a defense policy bill early Thursday morning that would increase the cap on the amount of Russian-made rocket engines to be used in U.S. national security satellite launches handled by a Decatur-based joint venture. But the bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, faces a number of obstacles before it can become law.

In this year's NDAA, which sets the budget for the Defense Department and includes provisions such as requiring women to be registered for a military draft, the committee also approved the Air Force to buy as many as 18 Russian-made RD-180 engines, an increase from the nine engines the Pentagon can currently purchase. The engines are used on Atlas rockets built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin that supplies about 1,000 jobs in the Huntsville area.

The use of the engines has sparked heated debate in Congress because the Russian company that builds the RD-180 has close ties to Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin, and even proponents of the engine, including U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., want to end the reliance on the Russian engines. But the Air Force and Defense Secretary Ash Carter have said that there is no current American alternative and that national security would be compromised if the satellites were delayed.

During a Senate hearing Wednesday under questioning from Shelby, Carter said the Defense Department's budget calls for buying the RD-180 "for a time" until there could be two American companies capable of building an engine.

"In the meantime, we have to launch our national security pay loads. And where -- there's two ways we can do that," Carter said, according to a transcript of the exchange provided by Shelby's office. "We can hold our noses, buy RD-180s until that situation is created. Or -- and fly Atlases with RD-180s. The alternative is to fly our payloads on Delta [a ULA launch system], which is technically feasible, but much more expensive. And so, that's the choice. And we have chosen the choice of going Atlas, recognizing the distasteful fact that that necessitates purchases of up to 18 more RD-180 engines. The alternative being Delta, but the alternative being much more expensive. It's that simple."

Shelby urged his colleagues to consider Carter's expertise to approve the RD-180 purchase.

"I am a strong advocate for the development of an all-American rocket engine that can launch our national security assets into orbit," he said.  "However, time and time again, our military leaders emphasize the need for the United States to have the ability to purchase additional RD-180s to safeguard assured access to space and protect American taxpayers while we transition off of foreign-made engines.  I was pleased to hear Secretary Carter address this important issue today, and I will continue to assert that Congress should provide the policy guidance and legal flexibility that our military leaders say they need in order to launch critical national security missions.  While we all agree that the U.S. should reduce its dependence on Russia as soon as possible, it should not come at the expense of keeping Americans safe."

The NDAA that passed the House Armed Services Committee still needs to be voted on by the full House, and there may need to be a compromise with the Senate if the upper chamber's passes a different version of the bill. U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is a strong opponent of the RD-180.

McCain had feuded with Shelby over budget language last year involving the RD-180, accusing Alabama's senior senator of "taking care of Vladimir Putin's cronies."

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