Russia Bans Rocket Engine Sales to U.S. Military

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-13/russia-bans-rocket-engine-sales-to-u-s-military.html

by falsestprophet • 12 years ago

49 53 12 years ago

bloomberg.com

mrt0mat0• 12 years ago

who is this bad for? It seems good for SpaceX

TeMPOraL4• 12 years ago

It's bad for the humanity. Especially if the Russians leave the ISS project because of stupid political bickering.

reqres• 12 years ago

I don't think "stupid political bickering" fairly characterises the situation. Ukraine is slowly descending into civil war with large chunks of it being (or threatening to be) annexed by Russia in the chaos.

Normally I'm all for technological progress. But maybe just this once I'd be OK with postponing our advancement as a spacefaring species if it means we can get a peaceful resolution in Ukraine.

outworlder• 12 years ago

Indeed. The cooperation between Russia and the US gave hopes that the old childish bickering would be over. Doesn't seem that way now.

dTal• 12 years ago

"Leave" the ISS project? Don't kid yourself. It will simply be renamed the Russian Federation Space Station.

Crito2• 12 years ago

It's bad for the ULA. The title is a bit misleading, they are banning exports of RD-180s that will be used for military missions, not just sales of RD-180s to the military itself. Therefore the ULA can still buy RD-180s, but they cannot then use those engines on missions with military payloads. If this restriction stays in place for long, it is fairly bad news for the ULA.

slashclee• 12 years ago

Seems pretty bad for ULA, which is Boeing and Lockheed Martin, but they claim they have enough rocket boosters to fulfill the next two years of their launch commitments. They have contractual obligations further out than that, but SpaceX is arguing the validity of at least one of those contracts.

poopsintub• 12 years ago

For a country with financial difficulties, it sure is taking some odd steps. Write-off North Korea's debt, now cancel out million/billion dollar sales to the U.S. for rockets. I guess they don't want us to build any more fighter jets before NATO attacks. ;)

bigdubs• 12 years ago

Rocket engines != jet engines.

But yeah, this is not sound fiscal planning on Russia's part.

jqm9• 12 years ago

Maybe they feel they might need the rocket engines in their inventory at some point.

I think some rocket components were produced in Ukraine, not sure if that applies to this. So maybe they don't want a limited supply diminished.

mladenkovacevic3• 12 years ago

As someone said jet engines != rocket engines.

But who do you think NATO should attack next with a wink and a smile? Ah yes, whoever dares to challenge the petrodollar, right? If that's the case then taking away their rockets is a good step for humanity.

pavlov• 12 years ago

The Russian state is not in financial difficulties. The oil and natural gas industries are reliable ruble generators, having been effectively resocialized in Putin's era. Russia has paid off its foreign debt completely. The regime won't feel the effect of Western economic pressure any time soon.

The Russian economy is much worse off, however. Competitiveness and industrial development have been neglected by the regime that's happy to siphon off profits from unrefined natural exports. Quality of life is not improving, corruption is rife as ever, wages and pensions can go unpaid.

Lately the government seems to be trying to shift blame onto foreigners and deviants, and so increasing numbers of Caucasian immigrant workers and homosexuals are getting beat up or murdered.

Medvedev talked the talk on much-needed economic development, but turns out he was just a puppet. There doesn't seem to be much hope for change in the near future.

eshvk• 12 years ago

NATO attacks. ;)

I am not sure NATO is going to attack a country with ICBMs and active nuclear warheads over Ukraine which is not part of the alliance.

baq• 12 years ago

elon must be a happy bunny right now.

trhway3• 12 years ago

US must be a happy bunny that it have visionary people like Elon.

andrewtbham• 12 years ago

Rye said, “If recent news reports are accurate, it affirms that SpaceX’s irresponsible actions have created unnecessary distractions, threatened U.S. military satellite operations, and undermined our future relationship with the International Space Station.”

I think you could argue that ULA, by outsourcing the engines, is what threatens the operation. How is it Space X's fault?

MichaelApproved• 12 years ago

I believe they're referring to Musk legal action as the distraction.

Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has sued the U.S. Air Force, claiming it created an illegal monopoly for the military’s satellite launch business.

Crito2• 12 years ago

As basically a sidenote to that lawsuit, SpaceX more or less said "Oh and by the way, how is it that they are buying engines with these sanctions in place?". It was a rather tangential issue to the lawsuit itself.

All SpaceX did was publicize that issue, everything before and after that was entirely the governments doing (the sanctions in the first place were on the government, and the injunction on the ULA was placed by a judge, not SpaceX. The injunction was lifted, again by the government, and the governments currently poor diplomatic relations with Russia inspired Russia to essentially make the injunction stick)

In other words, the ULA is just whining that SpaceX tattled on them. Any real blame lies with either the people who made the rules, or with the people who broke the rules (or both).

javajosh• 12 years ago

However you feel about the Ukraine, Russia's credibility is just about at zero. Come on, Putin claimed there were no Russian troops involved in Crimea, an obvious lie that he has now admitted was false. Now the Russian ambassador is attacking Musk...which is just about the best endorsement he could have gotten right now.

When you lie, publicly, about big things, you no longer get believed. It's just that simple.

seacious• 12 years ago

The Delta IV is more expensive than the Atlas V to launch. Will the ULA get more money as a result? Is the contract cost plus or is it fixed rate?

Russia Bans Rocket Engine Sales to U.S. Military

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