United Launch Alliance (ULA) can fulfill the Air Force’s 35 core “block buy” with the rocket engines it currently has on hand, according to a Boeing [BA] space executive who sits on ULA’s board of directors.
“We believe we can fully deliver on block buy with the engines we have on hand, new production of RS-68s on the Delta and adjustments in the manifest to move some of the payloads that are dual manifested from one launch vehicle to another,” Boeing Network and Space Systems President Roger Krone told reporters Tuesday at the company’s south Arlington, Va., office. ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and
Lockheed Martin [LMT].
A ULA spokeswoman said the company has 16 RD-180s in supply. A federal judge last week temporarily stopped ULA’s acquisition of the Russian-made RD-180 from developer NPO Energomash due to the possibility that money flowing to the company could violate economic sanctions. Last year ULA and the Air Force agreed to a long term buy of launch cores instead of the traditional annual procurement in an attempt to drive down costs. Air Force brass often cites a $4 billion savings due to the block buy.
ULA uses both the Atlas V and the Delta IV, which features the RS-68 engine developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne, as part of the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. ULA recently changed its schedule for receiving RD-180s from annually to biannual. ULA is scheduled to receive engines in August and October (Defense Daily, April 23).
Krone said dual manifested means payloads that are capable of being launched on either platform. The Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) platforms are dual manifest, Krone said, in addition to one or two other platforms, which he didn’t specify. WGS and GPS IIF are developed by Boeing while Lockheed Martin is developing GPS III.
“There are some interface differences between the two systems, but it’s fairly straight forward to move those payloads back-and-forth,” Krone said. “We’re confident at ULA we can meet the block buy without any more RD-180s.”
Boeing is also eagerly awaiting the downselect for the Air Force’s Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) program that will provide the president and Defense Department brass nuclear-survivable communications terminals. Krone said Boeing is almost completely finished with its development program with a couple flight test points this week and next week, in addition to Milestone C in about a month. The program, estimated to be worth billions of dollars, is down to Boeing and Raytheon [RTN]. Downselect is now expected for no later than June 30 after multiple delays.
Aerojet Rocketdyne is a division of GenCorp [GY].