Mary-Louise Hoffman
Craig Cooning, president of the network and space systems division at Boeing, has said the company’s joint venture with Lockheed Martin will incrementally invest funds to help develop two potential domestic alternatives to the Russian RD-180 engine, National Defense Magazine reported Tuesday.
Stew Magnuson writes Cooning told a press briefing at the Satellite 2016 conference in Maryland that the United Launch Alliance will support the development of the AR-1 and BE-4 rocket engines, respectively designed by Aerojet Rocketdyne and Blue Origin.
“Anything that United Launch Alliance does is ultimately to assure mission success and we think the best way to assure that is to hedge our bets and go forward for as long as possible with two engine providers,” Cooning told reporters.
The report said he believes industry could meet a 2019 deadline for delivery of U.S.-made rocket engine technology.
