Tory Bruno, head of the U.S. United Launch Alliance (ULA), told his Twitter subscriber why his company uses Russian RD-180 rocket engines.
According to him, at the end of the Cold War, the U.S. government asked ULA to buy these very engines so that “Russian rocket scientists would not end up in North Korea and Iran”.
In response, subscribers noted that the RD-180 is very powerful and reliable, and American counterparts are more expensive.
The RD-180 is installed on American Atlas rockets. These missiles, analysts say, are used for “critical space launches conducted in the interests of U.S. national security.
Earlier, National Interest magazine wrote that the law obliges the U.S. Air Force to abandon the use of RD-180, but the publication predicts this will not happen at least until 2024.
Congress also recognized that it would be impossible to replace Russian engines with American ones in the next ten years.