Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) vowed to continue into the next authorization season his fight against future Air Force use of the RD-180 after the fiscal year 2016 omnibus spending bill released early the morning of Dec. 16 lifted restrictions on the Russian rocket engine.
In addition to vowing to continue his fight, McCain on Dec. 16 reiterated his idea of a complete and indefinite restriction on the RD-180.
“I simply cannot allow Senator (Richard) Shelby, Senator (Richard) Durbin, the (Senate) Appropriations Committee or any other member of this body to craft a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ omnibus spending bill that allows a monopolistic corporation to do business with Russian oligarchs to buy overpriced rocket engines that fund Russia’s belligerence in Crimea and Ukraine,” McCain said in a Senate floor speech.
The omnibus bill text says a contract award for Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) services may be made to a launch service provider competing with any certified launch vehicle in its inventory, regardless of the country of origin of the rocket engine that will be used on its launch vehicle. The bill literally lifts the restrictions imposed by the FY ’15 and FY ’16 National Defense Authorization acts that banned Air Force for both the use of the RD-180 beyond 2019 and future purchases of the engine.
The bill is a huge win for United Launch Alliance (ULA), which uses the RD-180 in its Atlas V launch vehicle that has lifted a majority of national security payloads since its founding in 2005. ULA in November declined to bid for the Air Force’s first space launch in almost a decade, a Global Positioning System III (GPS III) launch, for multiple reasons, one being it didn’t have enough RD-180s to bid.
The bill is also a loss for Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), which was reportedly the only bidder for the GPS III launch with ULA not participating. SpaceX also had ULA cornered as the Air Force doesn’t believe it will have an indigenous rocket engine ready for use by 2019, coupled with ULA’s plans to retire its Delta IV rocket in the latter part of the decade, leaving SpaceX as potentially the only certified provider of national security launches.
James Muncy, founder of independent space policy consultancy PoliSpace, said Dec. 16 the omnibus bill renders the McCain authorization language “null and void.
“Appropriators have a really big stick,” Muncy said.
Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) member Shelby (R-Ala.) said Dec. 16 via a spokeswoman that the language in the omnibus would reverse the “reckless” restriction put on the use of the RD-180, which undermines our national security. Shelby said this language directly addresses the concerns of our nation’s military leaders who argue that there will be a multi-year gap in access to space for national security launches under our current policy.
“While I strongly believe that we should not be dependent upon any foreign power for access to space,” Shelby said, “itt is far too risky to ban the RD-180 until we have a domestically-produced engine that has the same capabilities.”
ULA manufactures the Atlas V in Alabama. One of ULA’s parent companies, Boeing [BA], is headquartered in Durbin’s Chicago. ULA’s other parent company is Lockheed Martin [LMT].
The bill also says none of the funds made available by this bill for EELV service competitive procurements may be used unless the competitive procurements are open for award to all certified providers of EELV-class systems. Muncy said while the bill only affects FY ’16 money, it clearly allows the Air Force to enter into contracts with whomever it wants.
The bill requires the Air Force to award launch contracts to the provider that offers the “best value” to the government. This was one of ULA’s reasons for not bidding for GPS III. The joint venture claimed that the Air Force was required to award to the “lowest price, technically acceptable” (LPTA) bidder, though Air Force Space Command’s (AFSPC) Sept. 30 press release for its request for proposals (RFP) release said the competition would be vetted by best value, as opposed to LPTA.
A spokesman for Durbin (D-Ill.), also a SAC member, was unable to respond by press time. SpaceX declined to provide comment on-the-record for this story.