Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on RD-180 Engine Replacement, February 2015
The Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing on the FY2016 budget request for the Air Force on February 25, 2015. During the hearing, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) had two exchanges where they discussed the timeline and cost of developing a new U.S. rocket engine to replace Russia’s RD-180 now used for the U.S. Atlas V rocket. James said “it may not be doable” to develop a new engine by 2019 as Congress directed last year. The two also discussed certifying “new entrants” like SpaceX to compete against the United Launch Alliance for national security satellite launches. SpacePolicyOnline.com published a summary of those portions of the hearing on February 25.