Russia will continue deliveries of missile engines RD-180 in the United States. About it RIA Novosti said the Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the government of the Russian space industry.
“We discussed this question, I gathered our experts several times. I thought — why?” he said.
“We’ll lose money, let them fly on our engines, especially because they are old… It is 1994, we have been a new engine created, but they are all on the same fly,” continued the official, noting that the RD-180 is a reliable and very good engine.
In April, the Director-General of the United rocket and space Corporation Yuri Vlasov expressed the opinion that Russia will continue to supply the RD-180 in the United States to 2024-2025 years. The American company Aerojet Rocketdyne predicts that by 2019 it will be able to begin mass production of engines AR1, which will replace a Russian powerplant.
Currently, the United States has created the first working prototype unit BE-4, which will replace the RD-180. Two single-chamber BE-4, set on the first step of the new carrier is Vulcan, which will enable to develop more thrust than a single two-chamber RD-180 first stage of the rocket Atlas V. in addition, calculations show that BE-4 compared to the RD-180 in 20 years of operation will save on military launches about three billion dollars.
Scientific-production Association “Energomash” has in its portfolio two major contracts with American partners. First the company provides in USA RD-180 engines for heavy rocket Atlas V, the second — the RD-181 for Antares secondary.
The cost of the first contract exceeds a billion dollars, the second is 220 million. The first contract allowed the “Energomash” relatively comfortably exist in the last 20 years. Interest to the Russian engines shows China, which is interested in full access to the technology of production units.