SASC Air Force Posture Hearing and RD-180s, March 2016

The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) held a posture hearing on the Air Force on March 3, 2016 at which SASC chairman John McCain (R-AZ) and Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James had a feisty exchange over the use of Russian RD-180 rocket engines for the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Atlas V rocket.   The focus was on whether ULA should be prohibited from buying RD-180s because it violates sanctions imposed against two Russians (Dmitry Rogozin and Sergei Chemezov) who now may benefit financially from those sales.  SpacePolicyOnline.com published a summary of that portion of the hearing on March 3.

James had testified to the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee the day before (March 2) where the topic of RD-180s also arose and those comments also are summarized in the SpacePolicyOnline.com article.