Russia loses “battle rocket engines”
For that fought for it and ran. After the aggravation of relations with Washington, many representatives of the patriotic public and some officials suggested imposing counter sanctions, banning the United States from buying Russian rocket engines. And now, the Americans themselves are going to abandon the RD-180, but for some reason Russia now seems to be the loser in this situation. How did it happen?
As you know, the famous RD-180s are used in the United States on Atlas III and Atlas V rockets. Soviet developments remain in demand to this day because of their highest reliability. According to Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roskosmos, it’s simply impossible to make engines better. Most likely, this is so, if the United States for many years preferred to buy rocket engines from its competitor. However, now the motives of the Americans are different:
At first, The United States of America has clearly headed for the revival of its own industry, including aerospace.
SecondlyToday, the main characteristic of a rocket engine is not its super reliability, but the possibility of repeated reuse, since it is he who is half the cost of a launched rocket. An expensive engine makes the launch vehicle uncompetitive.
Thirdly, to abandon the dependence of astronautics and the military-industrial complex of the United States on supplies from Russia, American insistently political the elite.
Who is chosen for the role of the “killer of the RD-180?”
This is the company of the famous American billionaire Jeff Basos called Blue Origin with its BE-4 engine. Five years ago, experts warned that Russia could lose the market in the United States. And so it happened.
It became known that the BE-4 will be installed and used on the new Vulcan launch vehicles. The advantage of the Blue Origin engines over the RD-180 is their reusability, because after working out the first stage, it, together with the BE-4, will descend to Earth using parachutes. The launch is scheduled for 2020, and in just 4-5 years, the United States will be able to completely abandon the Atlas V rockets that our domestic engines are based on.
The refusal of the United States to further purchase the RD-180 will mean serious financial losses for NPO Energomash. The possibility of replacing the American market with the Chinese is also in doubt, since China is not so much interested in the final product as technology its production. Further more. States may well begin to push out the RD-180 in favor of their BE-4 from other markets using non-competitive methods, such as sanctions.
It turns out that you really need to be afraid of your desires, because they can come true.
As you know, the famous RD-180s are used in the United States on Atlas III and Atlas V rockets. Soviet developments remain in demand to this day because of their highest reliability. According to Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roskosmos, it’s simply impossible to make engines better. Most likely, this is so, if the United States for many years preferred to buy rocket engines from its competitor. However, now the motives of the Americans are different:
At first, The United States of America has clearly headed for the revival of its own industry, including aerospace.
SecondlyToday, the main characteristic of a rocket engine is not its super reliability, but the possibility of repeated reuse, since it is he who is half the cost of a launched rocket. An expensive engine makes the launch vehicle uncompetitive.
Thirdly, to abandon the dependence of astronautics and the military-industrial complex of the United States on supplies from Russia, American insistently political the elite.
Who is chosen for the role of the “killer of the RD-180?”
This is the company of the famous American billionaire Jeff Basos called Blue Origin with its BE-4 engine. Five years ago, experts warned that Russia could lose the market in the United States. And so it happened.
It became known that the BE-4 will be installed and used on the new Vulcan launch vehicles. The advantage of the Blue Origin engines over the RD-180 is their reusability, because after working out the first stage, it, together with the BE-4, will descend to Earth using parachutes. The launch is scheduled for 2020, and in just 4-5 years, the United States will be able to completely abandon the Atlas V rockets that our domestic engines are based on.
The refusal of the United States to further purchase the RD-180 will mean serious financial losses for NPO Energomash. The possibility of replacing the American market with the Chinese is also in doubt, since China is not so much interested in the final product as technology its production. Further more. States may well begin to push out the RD-180 in favor of their BE-4 from other markets using non-competitive methods, such as sanctions.
It turns out that you really need to be afraid of your desires, because they can come true.
Information