Proposed US Defense Bill To Bar Russian RD-180 Engines On American Atlas V Rockets

Tensions between the United States and Russia have exceeded even to infinity and beyond. A bill filed in the House of Representatives called the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, has called for the ban of purchasing Russian-made RD-180 rocket engines to launch U.S. military satellites into space.

The proposed defense policy bill could trigger a dent in the earnings of Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. The proposal will likewise effectively mean the U.S. needs to develop its own "made in the U.S." engines if it doesn't want to lose in the space race to Russia. The bill has proposed $220 million for this.

The bill, if approved, will prevent United Launch Alliance or ULA, to buy and use Russian RD-180 engines on U.S. government satellites, unless they have been bought before the April 2014 invasion of the Crimean peninsula by Moscow. ULA is a joint venture of Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp.

In a statement, ULA said "any effort to cut off the RD-180 before a new, reliable engine is available would result in billions of increased costs to the U.S. taxpayer and will leave the nation with a huge gap in national security capabilities." ULA added it had been talking with its Russian manufacture to increase purchases from five RD-180 rocket engines a year to eight. The company further noted it has a two-year stockpile of the engines, which it had intended to use while developing a new motor. The latter, according to the Wall Street Journal, isn't expected to be ready before 2019.

The NDAA does not appropriate funds for the U.S.' defense's military spending, but it does set the allowable levels. The proposed based defense budget for 2015 has been placed at $521 billion, including $17.9 billion for nuclear weapons activities in the Department of Energy, Reuters reported, citing unidentified sources. It also allotted $63.7 billion for U.S. wars overseas, mainly Afghanistan as well as for the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The bill has to be approved by both U.S. chambers, before it gets forwarded to President Barack Obama for his signature. The aides said lawmakers need to approve it without amendments.

The RD-180 engines is manufactured by Russian NPO Energomash. They were used for the first stage of the Atlas 5 rocket, which launches both civil and military satellites of the Pentagon.