Mary-Louise Hoffman
Boeing and Lockheed Martin‘s joint venture United Launch Alliance is seeking a waiver from a federal ban on the use of the Russian-made RD-180 engine for U.S. military satellite launches, Reuters reported Sunday.
Andrea Shalal writes ULA wants permission to continue using its Atlas V rockets until it has completed the development of a U.S. engine-powered Vulcan launch vehicle.
“We need to make sure that we can close the business case,” Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed’s space systems segment, told Reuters.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen with U.S. policy, as well as the market shifts,” Ambrose added, according to the report.
ULAÂ expects to face competition for military satellite launch work after SpaceX received approval from the U.S. Air Force for its Falcon 9 rocket.
