California lawmakers criticize Pentagon’s purchase of Russian rockets

A bipartisan group of U.S. House members from California has jumped into a high-stakes battle over the Pentagon’s use of Russian-made rocket engines to launch satellites.

It’s an effort that already involves Hawthorne-based SpaceX Inc. and Aerojet Rocketdyne, which once built engines for the space shuttle in Canoga Park. The two companies want to win much more of the lucrative business of launching military satellites -- work that now goes almost exclusively to a joint venture that depends on importing Russian rocket engines.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, 32 members of California’s congressional delegation called on the Pentagon to stop relying on Russian rocket engines and buy them instead from American manufacturers, including those in the state.

The group wrote in the Sept. 22 letter that the Defense Department “has chosen to limit competition” and buy from Russia even though rocket engines are “built here, in American factories by American workers.”

One California congressman -- Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee -- was noticeably absent from the letter’s signatories.

McKeon spokesman Claude Chafin said the congressman did not sign such letters when they involve an issue that could be debated by his committee. McKeon has noted his concern about the U.S. dependence on Russian rockets in the past, Chafin said.

Recently, the Air Force took some first steps in an attempt to move away from the Russian engine known as the RD-180.

Future supplies of the rocket engines became a concern this year when Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin threatened to stop shipments. The engines are manufactured by NPO Energomash, a company largely owned by the Russian government.

A U.S. Air Force spokesman, Major Eric D. Badger, said on Monday that the Pentagon had obtained enough of the Russian engines to propel launches scheduled through spring 2016. “We are evaluating options to end the use of Russian engines,” he said.

The Air Force recently asked American companies to offer suggestions on developing a new rocket engine to replace the RD-180, he said. Officials are also evaluating shorter-term solutions in case the Russians stop shipments, Badger said, including buying more American-made engines.

For years, the Air Force has paid United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to launch its satellites.

The joint venture uses some of Aerojet’s engines, but depends on the powerful Russian RD-180 to launch its Atlas V rocket.

Earlier this year, SpaceX filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon, challenging its multiyear contract with United Launch Alliance.

SpaceX contends that the deal -- which was approved without accepting bids from other companies -- is costing taxpayers billions of dollars in excessive launch costs, while funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to Russia’s military-industrial base.

United Launch Alliance spokeswoman Jessica Rye said there was “no threat to the current deliveries of RD-180 engines.” She added that any disruption of the Pentagon contract “will have significant cost to taxpayers,” while threatening thousands of jobs, including at the joint venture’s suppliers in California.

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