A former high ranking Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) officer and a former NASA administrator are participating in the Defense Department’s study into the feasibility of producing the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine in the United States.
Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Howard “Mitch” Mitchell, former AFSPC director of operations and now the vice president of program assessments for the Aerospace Corporation, has been appointed to chair the study team. Former NASA administrator during President George W. Bush’s administration, Mike Griffin, is also a “participating board member” of the study committee, according to Schafer Corporation, where Griffin is chairman and CEO.
DoD is performing a “business case analysis” of how much it would cost to make the RD-180 in the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said recently it would probably take roughly $1 billion and five years to develop and produce a domestic alternative to the RD-180. Though relying on a Russian engine for a critical national security capability like space launches has always been discussed, the RD-180 became a hot topic on Capitol Hill once the current crisis between Ukraine and Russia over Crimea developed. DoD wants to make sure it has a backup plan in case Russia severs supplying the RD-180.
Air Force spokespeople said the RD-180 study committee is composed of members from various Air Force organizations; the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics/Special Security Instruction Airspace (AT&L/SSI); NASA; the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), OSD’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office (OSD/CAPE) and several consultants. Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Natasha Waggoner said Monday the study implements Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s review discussed in a March 13 House Armed Services Committee (HASC) hearing.
The study’s objective, Waggoner said, is to provide a review focused on issues, risks, cost and options to deal with a potential supply interruption. Waggoner said the study began March 24 and is expected to complete by mid-May, which is earlier than the late May timeframe Air Force officials said previously.
Mitchell, in his role as vice president of program assessments, is responsible for providing independent assessments of space programs in support of major milestone decisions and to maintain the program executive office (PEO) space watchlist of technical issues affecting Air Force Space and Missile Command (AFSMC) programs. Before joining Aerospace in 2010, Mitchell worked for Booz Allen Hamilton [BAH], NYTOR Inc., and Arrowhead Global Solutions, now part of Harris [HRS]. Mitchell retired from the Air Force in 2003 with his final assignment as U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) liaison to the Pakistani military and the director of the Office of Defense Representative to Pakistan.
Griffin served as 11th NASA administrator from April 2005 to January 2009 and was most recently eminent scholar and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Prior to his stint at NASA, Griffin was the space department head at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), president and COO of In-Q-Tel, Inc., and also served in several positions with Orbital Sciences [ORB].
DoD said in a letter to House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) obtained by sister publication Defense Daily, it was resisting proposed legislation that would immediately prohibit use of the RD-180 in the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, which is to assure the federal government access to space. United Launch Alliance (ULA), the incumbent EELV launch provider, has said it has around two years’ worth of RD-180s in supply. The RD-180, used in ULA’s Atlas V launch vehicle, is developed by NPO Energomash of Russia and distributed in the U.S. by RD AMROSS, a joint venture of NPO Energomash and Pratt & Whitney, which is a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX]
DoD said in the letter the proposed legislation would also prohibit government-sponsored research and development (R&D) of a new next-generation rocket engine, something to which DoD officials testified last week they would support to ease dependence on the RD-180. The proposed legislation would require DoD shift to either ULA’s Delta IV rocket, which is American-made, but more expensive than the Atlas V, or new entrants, if and when they become certified to carry EELV missions. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is in the process of becoming certified, having completed one of three missions toward certification. The company has a Cargo Resupply Service (CRS) flight for NASA, eligible for certification, scheduled for April 14.
McKeon spokesman Claude Chafin said Monday the correspondence between DoD and the chairman’s office reflects the normal course of business as HASC puts together the defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2015.
“Often Chairman McKeon will seek an assessment from DoD on a variety of proposals,” Chafin said. “That does not necessarily reflect any policy preference on the chairman’s part.”