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THE THREAT OF U.S.

DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIAN ROCKET ENGINES


By: Evan Smith

On July 21, 1969, American Neil Armstrong became the first man to step foot on the
moon i . His famous words, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind have
reverberated through history for multiple reasons ii . Not only was the successful mission of
Apollo 11 a scientific breakthrough, landing on the moon had essentially ended what is known as
the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the midst of the Cold War,
the Space Race can be seen as a microcosm of the entire war. Intense competition on a global
scale was the result of competing ideologies between capitalism in the US and communism in
the USSR. Although the United States was successful in both reaching the moon as well as
emerging victorious from the Cold War, the Soviet Union had eventually produced a rocket
engine far superior than that used on the Apollo 11 mission. After the fall of the Soviet Union in
1991, the United States had become aware of the advanced engine that had been created by the
Soviets. In a classic move of outsourcing, the US decided to purchase rocket engines from
Russia. Despite any concern of negative relations between the two nations, the United States
actually experienced more than twenty years of a consistent agreement to purchase engines.
However, early in 2014, relations between the US and Russia had deteriorated to the point where
Russian officials threatened to cease the sale of rocket engines to the United States. Without the
ability to purchase engines from Russia, the US is put in a serious disadvantage. Currently, the
United States only has a two year supply of engines iii. While at the same time, it is going to take
at least five years for the US to create their own engine iv. The United States will experience at
least a three year drought of rocket engines. Socially, the national security of the American
people will be put at risk. The types of equipment placed into space by the rocket engines
supplied by the Russians allow for GPS satellites to operate effectively. Culturally, even with
just a short period of time without rocket engines, US citizens will become more aware of

Russias presence in global affairs. Economically, developing rocket engines domestically will
cost a lot in the short run, but save money in the long run. High startup costs and lack of
cooperation with Russia are both challenges for the United States progress. However, the US
must be aware how this problem impacts its nation, and decide on the appropriate means of
discovering a solution.
HISTORICAL SETTING AND CONTEXT
In 1890, the director of the US census stated that the American frontier had finally
closed v . As historian Fredrick Jackson Turner observed in 1893, conquering the frontier in
America helped to develop much of the mindset of American society. Although the land frontier
had closed, a new type of frontier began to emerge in the 1940s and 50s: the space frontier.
Conquering the space frontier with the ultimate goal of putting man on the moon, was not just an
exciting task for Americans, but rather another logical step in the ideological evolution of
American society. Emerging from World War II in 1945 as the worlds hegemonic superpower,
the United States enjoyed singular global dominance until the rise of the Soviet Union and the
introduction of the Cold War around the year 1947. Although no direct battles were fought
between the United States and the Soviet Union, regional proxy wars were battled throughout the
world, specifically in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan vi. The tension of the entire war stems
from the ideological differences between capitalism and communism.

This tension was

displayed in almost every aspect of life. Specifically regarding the Space Race, one can get a
great glimpse of the intense competition between the US and the USSR and its implications on
world politics. Before the United States placed man on the moon on July 20, 1969, the USSR
had launched Sputnik I on October 4, 1957, the worlds first artificial satellite, as well as the first
man-made object, in the Earths orbit vii.

The launch came as quite a surprise to many Americans and sparked fear that the Soviet
Union had surpassed American military power. During World War II, Nazi Germany had come
close to creating the worlds first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a technology that
depends heavily on satellites. After World War II however, Germany was not in a position as a
nation to continue pursuing this goal. Instead, both the United States and the Soviet Union began
to expand their military power through any means, including the pursuit of ICBMs. More than a
scientific breakthrough, Sputnik intensified the already significant arms race during the Cold
War. The successful launch of Sputnik alerted the United States that the Soviet Union was far
closer to obtaining ICBMs than they thought. In response, the United States significantly
ramped up their weapons development, including the expansion of their space program. Sputnik
was the beginning of a series of successful launches from the Soviet Union. Quickly after
Sputniks launch, two satellites were successfully launched, including one that carried a dog into
space. The USSR had taken one significant step forward to developing the worlds first ICBM.
On January 31, 1958, the United States had finally successfully launched their first satellite, the
Explorer. The Explorer went much deeper into space, but the Soviet Union responded with yet
another successful satellite launch. As each nation continued to expand their space program,
each grew more paranoid of the others advances. During the 1950s, many lawmakers and
politicians exploited this idea of the missile gap; the belief that there was a significant
difference between US and USSR stockpile of ICBMs. Many laws were created as a response
to the missile gap. As the pursuit of satellites intensified through the space race, the arms race
congruently escalated as well viii.

Eventually, tension climaxed during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After the United States
failed to overthrow Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Soviet Union premier, Nikita
Khrushchev, secretly agreed on July 1962 to place Soviet missiles in Cuba to prevent any future
US invasions. By the end of the summer, the United States became aware of a weapons build up
in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy proceeded to publically warn the Soviet Union about
introducing any weapons to Cuba. Disregarding these warnings the Soviet Union continued
developing weapons in Cuba. On October 14, 1962, US aircraft took pictures revealing the
construction of nuclear ballistic missiles. After issuing a quarantine of Cuba on October 22,
President Kennedy sent a letter to Khrushchev stating that the United States would not allow any
offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba. This message marked the introduction to a string of
communication between Kennedy and Khrushchev.

Despite the quarantine, the Soviets

continued their development in Cuba. On October 26, Kennedy informed his advisors that he
believed only a direct attack on Cuba would remove the missiles, but still desired a diplomatic
solution to the problem. On that same afternoon, an ABC news correspondent named John Scali
informed the White House about how he had been approached by a Soviet agent who had
apparently explained that the Soviet Union would leave Cuba if the US agreed not to invade.
After making an emotional plea to the Soviet Union in hopes that this offer was true, President
Kennedy awaited a response from the Kremlin. Khrushchev eventually responded, mentioning
the necessity for the United States to remove their nuclear ballistic missile from Turkey. On
October 28, Khrushchev publically announced the removal of ballistic missiles from Cuba, while
the United States removed their missiles from Turkey secretly. As man inched closer to reaching
the moon, technology was rapidly developing which spurred the arms race even further ix.

The ultimate goal of the space race was to eventually land man on the moon. Although
the Soviet Union continually outpaced the US developing space technology, the United States
became the first to walk on the moon. The US victory is a direct result of the engine they used.
The United States decided to pursue building an open-cycle engine, whereas the Soviet Union
pursued a close-cycle engine. The American engine, named the Saturn V, would ignite fuel and
oxygen in the combustion chamber and dump the excess waste. The Soviet engine on the other
hand, known as the NK-33, would ignite fuel and oxygen in the combustion chamber, but recycle
the excess waste back into the combustion chamber, resulting in a far more powerful and
complex engine. The Soviet Union believed that a closed-cycle engine was vital for man to land
on the moon. However, due to the high complexity of the engine, the United States beat the
Soviets to the moon. The NK-33 was eventually finished in 1974, but soon after the completion
of this engine the USSR decided to more than shut down their space program by demolishing the
entire plant.

Believing that the engines should be put to use rather than melted, Nikolai

Kuznestov, Chief Designer of the Soviet Design Bureau OKB-276, collected every engine and
stored them in a secret warehouse. These engines remained completely untouched and unnoticed
until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Word eventually spread to the United States where
high-ranking officials from Aerojet, a company that specializes in aerospace and defense, flew to
Russia and encountered the NK-33s. After testing, Aerojet discovered that the 20-year-old
engines were more advanced than any US rocket engine at the time. Aerojet decided to buy the
engines from the Russians, resulting in a business agreement that had only been broken
recently x.
With collaboration between the United States and Russia, an engine currently known as
the RD-180 came to existence. This engine is created entirely in Russia, and shipped to the US

for use, specifically on the Atlas V. The Atlas V is in the category of rockets known as Evolved
Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV). The Atlas V is an extremely advanced and sophisticated
machine, with an impressive 100 percent mission success rate with more than 600 launches. The
Atlas V is operated by the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and
Boeing. This rocket is responsible for launching GPS systems, WorldView satellites, items
included in a classified CLIO mission, and many other technologies into space. Perhaps what is
most interesting about the relationship between the United States and their purchase of Russian
rockets engines is the amount of control that the Russians have in the process xi.
Senator John McCain recently discovered that a small company located in Florida is
responsible for receiving the RD-180 engines. This company, known as RD Amross, is a jointventure of a Russian engine maker called NPO Energomash. They are also a US partner of
United Technologies. There are only five employees, all of which have close ties to Vladimir
Putin. This company consistently marks up the price of the RD-180 by millions of dollars before
selling to the United States Air Force. According to RD Amross current agreement with the Air
Force, their contract agrees to $93 million in mark-ups over the span of a few years. All of this
information was not discovered until after the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitry
Rogozin, threatened to ban exports of Russian-made rocket engines to the United States after the
US placed sanctions on Russia following conflict in Ukraine xii.
THE SPECIFIC GLOBAL ISSUE TO BE ADDRESSED
Launching and maintaining GPS systems is one of the most important jobs that the Atlas
V rocket performs. GPS is useful for more reasons than providing an individual with directions.
The United States uses GPS to spy on other nations they suspect of dangerous activity. GPS has
been used in the past to scope locations throughout the world that have been accused of

developing weapons of mass destruction. One of the newest developments of modern warfare is
the drone. Drones use GPS technology to maneuver without a pilot. Even man-controlled
machines are dependent on a reliable GPS system during warfare. The United States plans on
updated their current GPS systems to a new generation of GPS known as Block IIIA, commonly
referred to as GPS III, in 2016 xiii . This upgraded GPS has an improved anti-jam system,
improved accuracy, and has many added features that assist both civilian and military needs xiv.
But by 2016 it is very possible the United States could be out of rocket engines. Although there
is no other technology like GPS in the world, the Russian version of this technology, known as
GLONASS, is a not too far behind second xv. In recent years, Vladimir Putin has actually been
ramping up their GLONASS program. In 2010, GLONASS achieved 100% coverage of all
Russian territory, and in October 2011 global coverage was achieved with 24 satellites in orbit xvi.
Although GLONASS is less sophisticated than GPS, without the ability to continue improving
US GPS satellites, the United States will be put in a position that risks national security. It may
not be a problem that many Americans are currently aware of, but in the near future the US could
experience serious social ramifications from the lack of updated GPS systems.
Increasing Russias GLONASS system is only one aspect of a larger concern facing the
United States.

Russia is attempting to achieve global dominance in many areas of life.

Following the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, Russia began sending unmarked troops and supplies
to Ukraine. Unaffiliated soldiers began to seize control of strategic locations throughout this
country. These locations were then annexed by Russia. The international community is largely
unsupportive of Russias actions as they have been breaking international law and ignoring
Ukraines sovereignty. By acting unilaterally, and for personal reasons, Russia is reverting to
their Cold War tendencies. It seems that the Cold War map of the Soviet Union is trying to be

redrawn. In particular, the United States has placed sanctions on key Russian figures, as well as
other areas of the Russian economy, in an attempt to curb their behavior.

Rather than

succumbing to the wishes of the United States and many others throughout the world, Russia has
ignored sanctions, and has even responded by placing their own sanctions on the United States.
Specifically, during the conflict in Crimea, Russia threatened to end the sale of rocket engines to
the United States. Russia maintains strong enough ties with the United States and the rest of the
world that their threats carry weight. In this sense, the United States is unable to boss Russia
around as pleased.
Over the past few years Russia has emerged as a more aggressive force in world politics.
Without restraint, the United States could lose ground as a powerful world leader. By ceasing
the sale of rocket engines to the US while expanding their own military program, it is clear that
Russia is in the process of becoming a more central world power. If gone unchecked, Russia
may continue to invade weaker nations while disregarding international law xvii.
The United States is not the only nation currently dependent on Russia in some way. The
International Energy Agency has warned that the European Union will be dependent on Russia
for the foreseeable future for energy. Fossil fuel production is ending quickly in the European
Union, especially in Denmark and the Netherlands. Russia has been using oil as a threat against
the EU during the 2014 crisis in Ukraine. 15% of the European Union is dependent on Russian
oil, while six states, including Bulgaria and Slovakia, use Russia as their sole supplier of oil.
The EU is the largest importer of various types of energy in the world, and is currently looking
for other options to reduce dependence on Russia. The EU is experiencing roadblocks to
discovering a solution for Russian oil dependence due to disagreement among key European
leaders throughout various sectors that need to come to an agreement. As noted, the United

States is not the only nation dependent on Russia in some way. Despite certain weaknesses the
country is facing, Russia is strategically placed in the world giving them power through many
different avenues xviii.
In the beginning of Barack Obamas administration, the President was concerned with
mending poor international relations abroad, believing that previous President George Bush
contributed to a negative global image of the US. After Russia invaded Georgia in the RussoGeorgian War on August 7, 2008, President Obama desired the ability to reset positive relations
between the two nations. In March 2009, previous Secretary of State Hilary Clinton presented
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a physical reset button. Somewhat foreshadowing
the future relationship between the two nations, the Russian word for button was translated
incorrectly. Beginning in April 2009, Obama promised to reduce the nuclear weapons stockpile
between both nations, and on April 10, 2010 the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty)
was signed. This treaty between the United States and Russia ultimately reduced over 1,500
nuclear weapons. A major blow to US-Russian relations occurred in June 2013. After the
discovery of chemical weapons in Syria, the United States urged Russia to condemn Bashar alAssads use of such weapons. However, Russia publicly doubted Assads use of chemical
weapons, and instead placed blame on Syrian rebels. Shortly afterwards, Russia granted Edward
Snowden, a computer professional who leaked classified information from the National Security
Agency (NSA), asylum in Russia.

President Obama responded by immediately cancelling

meetings between Putin and himself that were scheduled to occur soon in St. Petersburg. By
early 2014, conflict in Ukraine began to erupt in a time where US-Russian relations were already
growing sour xix.

Even if the relationship between the US and Russia is mended, it is still in the best
interest for the United States to pursue domestic production of a rocket engine. In the short-run
this is going to cost a lot of money. Experts believe that building a rocket engine will cost at
least one billion dollars over the span of five to eight years xx. Both the federal government
corporations are collaborating to solve this problem. Recently, a bill was proposed that would
grant the development of a rocket engine $220 million in 2015 alone xxi. A company named Blue
Origin, owned by Jim Bezos of Amazon, has recently agreed to work with ULA to produce an
alternative engine for the RD-180 xxii. According to the New York Times, Blue Origins plans to
begin testing in 2016, and only launch its first flight in 2019 xxiii. The road to a rocket engine is
long. Currently, NPO Energomash sells the RD-180 engines to the RD Amross. These engines
are sold at a significant markup to the US Air Force. RD Amross sells a single RD-180 engine
for an average price of $23.4 million per engine xxiv. If Blue Origin is successful in creating an
alternative engine to the RD-180, they will cut the middle man out of the equation and sell
directly to the Air Force. In doing so, costs for the RD-180 will drop significantly while Blue
Origin can still enjoy a substantial profit. Another company called Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR),
was vying for the ability to produce an alternative RD-180 engine xxv .

AR currently

manufactures six different rocket engines. They entered the competition for the chance to
produce the RD-180 alternative in early October. However, the Antares Orb 3, a rocket powered
partly by AR engines, exploded just fifteen seconds after launch on October 28, 2014 xxvi. One of
the engines used on this rocket was the AR-made AJ26 xxvii. This is a heartbreaking accident for
NASA and AR. The Antares Orb 3 was a cargo ship packed with more than 5,000 pounds of
cargo and supplies xxviii. At this stage it is unclear whether or not the AJ26 was the cause of the
explosion. The rockets self-destruct system was triggered at some point, for reasons currently

unclear. Whether or not the AJ26 is at fault, the explosion is still an embarrassing mishap that
could possibly detract from ARs chances of producing the RD-180 alternative.
CONCLUSION: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE
The major problem facing the United States is the time period it will require to produce a
rocket engine from scratch. Russia has not yet officially banned the sale of rocket engines to the
United States. Despite how serious Russias claim to ban the sale of rocket engines to the US is,
many experts believe that it is in the best interest of the United States to pursue a more
independent rocket program. Moving forward, the United States should attempt to mend broken
ties with Russia. At the end of the day, Russia may not actually be willing to lose such a
significant amount of money. NPO Energomash does not make many more products than the
RD-180.

By eliminating the sale of these engines, NPO Energomash could possibly face

bankruptcy. If the United States is able to convince Russia to continue engine sales, the US
should still pursue the development of an alternative rocket engine. It has been made quite
apparent over the past year that the United States cannot infinitely depend on Russia for such a
delicate product. If Russia continues to revert to Cold War tendencies, it is not wise for the
United States to so heavily depend on Russia to supply military needs. The USmust pursue at
least a short-term relationship with Russia to ensure the sale of RD-180s, while simultaneously
pursuing domestic rocket engine production.
Money is also a concern in the pursuit of an RD-180 alternative. However, with the
assistance of Blue Origin and the ULA, money will not be too difficult to find. Currently, the
US Air Force budget is being stretched extremely thin xxix .

It would not be wise for the

government to fund this project. Although the US may desire more control over the process, the
government is simply not in the position to fund such an extensive project. Blue Origin, being

highly motivated by the financial reward of this process, is more than capable of supplying
whatever necessary to create an engine.
In all, the United States is put in a very interesting position. In its early history, the
United States did not show major competence regarding space technology.

They were

continually beat by the Soviet Union in innovations until the US reached the moon. Although
the United States had ideologically conquered the space frontier, the Soviet Union still developed
a far more advanced rocket engine capable of more than anything the Americans could have
dreamed at the time. After settling agreements to purchase rocket engines from Russia, the US
experienced many years of consistent and positive relations. But early in 2014, this positive
relationship grew negative. The United States must now seek to create their own rocket engine.
By creating their own engine, the US will save money and implement vertical integration of their
space products. With Russia eventually out of the picture, the United States can obtain more
control over their products. However, at this rate the United States will face a period of three
years without any rocket engines. In order to buy time, it would be beneficial for the US to
establish temporary diplomatic ties with Russia so that the United States is not without rocket
engines for long. In this process, the US will establish what is necessary for maintaining
efficiency. As the United States shifts from outsourcing rocket engines from Russia, although
there may be negative short-term effects, the long-term effects of saved money, more control,
and an increase in American jobs will be absolutely worth it.

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