By Doug Cameron
The head of the largest U.S. space launch company said Wednesday
that deliveries of its Russian-made rocket engines had been
accelerated, mitigating concerns that a mooted supply crunch could
delay military and intelligence missions.
United Launch Alliance LLC, or ULA, expects to receive two
RD-180 engines in August and is confident the supply will continue,
even though a senior Russian politician last month threatened to
halt shipments as tensions with the U.S. escalated in the wake of
the crisis in Ukraine.
"I am not concerned about RD-180 shipments," said Michael Gass,
chief executive of ULA, a joint venture between Boeing Co. (BA) and
Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT).
ULA uses boosters made by state-controlled NAO Energomash
Russian to send half of its military and intelligence payloads into
orbit, and the prospect of losing these triggered a push from
lawmakers and military leaders to create a new U.S.-produced
alternative that could take up to seven years and $2 billion to
develop.
Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com
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