COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.–The Air Force’s top space officer supports the service potentially selling its roughly 1,000 excess ICBM motors, but for the right price and in the right quantity.
Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) chief Gen. John Hyten said April 14 he is aware of the fine line between getting a return on the Air Force’s investment of what he said is hundreds of millions of dollars spent over the years to keep these excess ICBM motors ready to fly. But he is also aware of how necessary a robust commercial launch market is to the Defense Department’s space efforts and how the availability of these motors may afect that market.
“I think there’s a sweet spot there,” Hyten told reporters at the 32nd Space Symposium. “You can’t give the (excess) ICBMs away…(and) you can’t flood the market.”
Orbital ATK [OA] has proposed the Air Force make these motors available to competition, though many believe they are the only company with the expertise and interest in acquiring these motors. Orbital ATK would use these motors in its Minotaur launch vehicle, which is currently restricted by law to using these excess motors for DoD flights. A company executive said recently Orbital ATK would use these engines in Minotaur to compete for launches in the 500-2,000 kg class to low earth orbit (LEO).
Federal law says the government shall not convert any missile once used as an ICBM and declared excess to United States national defense needs to a space transportation vehicle configuration nor transfer ownership of any such missile to another person, unless it meets certain requirements and is certified by the defense secretary.
Orbital ATK spokeswoman Jennifer Bowman said April 15 it was too early to discuss what price the company is willing to pay for each motor, but that it is willing to pay “market price.”
“We support maintaining the current safeguards and processes which require case-by-case approval of each sale by the secretary of defense,” Bowman said.
Commercial space companies are starting to voice their opposition to the idea of the Air Force making these excess motors available. Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck told sister publication Defense Daily on April 14 he’s opposed to the Air Force selling off its excess ICBM motors, saying it would stifle innovation and also serve like a subsidy.
Beck foresaw companies going out of business because of the cheap launch vehicles that would hit the market. Rocket Lab is developing its Electron rocket to get payloads of 150 kg to a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit.
“Once [those launch businesses] are all finished, then what?” Beck said. “We’re back to having no launch providers again.”
Orbital ATK argues that acquiring excess ICBM motors would bring Minotaur class launches from Russia to the United States as Russia does not restrict the use of excess ICBM motors in launches.