The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) is setting up a battle with its House counterparts over the RD-180 as it banned use of the Russian-developed rocket engine beyond those permitted in National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) for fiscal years 2015 and 2016.The SASC bill summary, released late Thursday, said once those nine RD-180s are expended, the Air Force would be authorized to use only launch vehicles that do not require engines designed or manufactured in Russia. The HASC bill permits…
