Aerojet Rocketdyne [AJRD] announced May 8 that its AR1 engine, one of two contenders for the first stage of United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Vulcan next-generation launch vehicle, has successfully completed its critical design review (CDR).
The milestone keeps the liquid-fueled AR1 on track for flight certification and readiness for production in 2019, Aerojet Rocketdyne said. The CDR was preceded by a series of “incremental” design reviews and subsystem tests, including full-scale performance tests of the preburner and staged combustion system.
“It means that we have finalized our design and confirmed that it meets the diverse set of operational requirements necessary for national security missions,” said Eileen Drake, Aerojet Rocketdyne’s chief executive officer and president. “Leading up to CDR, we manufactured major components at subscale and full-scale dimensions and completed hundreds of tests to confirm that we are ready to build our first engine for qualification and certification.”
ULA CEO Tory Bruno insisted in April that the AR1 is still in contention for the Vulcan despite rumors that ULA was heavily favoring Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine. The Vulcan is intended to replace the Atlas 5, ending ULA’s controversial reliance on the Russian RD-180 first-stage engine.