American Dependence On Russian Rockets May Finally Be Ending
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-aims-to-fund-alternative-to-russian-rocket-engine-in-2016-2014-9
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government hopes to add funding to its 2016 budget for alternatives to Russian-made rocket engines to launch sensitive satellites, a key Pentagon official said Wednesday.
Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer, said Russia's aggression in Ukraine had clearly increased concerns about America's dependence on Russia-built RD-180 rocket engines that power the heavy-lift Atlas 5 rockets used to carry U.S. military and spy satellites into space.
"The situation has changed with events in Ukraine. Now that level of risk looks more significant," Kendall told the ComDef 2014 conference. "There is close to a consensus ... that we need to find a way to remove the dependency. We're looking at the best course of action to do that."
U.S. President Barack Obama accused Russia on Wednesday of a "brazen assault" on Ukraine, and urged NATO on Wednesday to help strengthen Ukraine's military, which has been fighting pro-Russian separatists for five months.
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