Secretary Of Defense, Director Of National Intelligence Say Purchases Are Necessary To assure 'Access To Space'

When defense and intelligence officials in Washington, D.C. said that they needed to continue to purchase Russian-built RD-180 rocket engines for use by United Launch Alliance, U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had a simple answer; "No."

Reuters reports that, in a letter to Senator McCain (pictured), Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper urged the Senator to amend a law that would, in their words, assure the Pentagon "access to Space." Many lawmakers have lobbied for sanctions against Russia following their annexation of Crimea last year, and would like to see the purchase of the Russian rocket cores by ULA ended, but federal law requires that two military satellite launch vehicles be ready at all times, and ULA currently has the only rocket rated for that purpose.

Waiting in the wings is SpaceX, which hopes to compete with ULA for the launch business. Both sides have been lobbying aggressively in Washington with billions of dollars at stake.

McCain said in a statement that the letter sent by Carter and Clapper failed to acknowledge the role NASA has in assuring access to space, and that the law does not prevent NASA from using the Russian engines. He said because of that, NASA could step in in the event of a crisis and get a satellite into space. "What Section 1608 does is prevent over $300 million of precious U.S. defense resources from subsidizing Vladimir Putin and the Russian military industrial base," McCain said in the statement.

McCain said he is also concerned that Russia is jacking up the price of the engines purchased by ULA.

The Air Force says it could certify SpaceX to compete for some military and spy satellite business by June of this year.

FMI: www.armed-services.senate.gov