“Today we decided to stop the supply of rocket engines manufactured by the NGO Energomash to the United States,” Rogozin said, according to the Russian news site TASS. “Let me remind you that these supplies have been quite intense since the mid-1990s,” Rogozin said.
Tass said the ban would apply to RD-180 engines, which power the United States-based United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V missiles.
However, ULA CEO Tori Bruno said through Twitter that the ULA has already accepted the supply of RD-180 it needs in the short term, and he does not provide Consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine affecting the operations of ULA.ULA, a private space transport company, is in the process of abandoning its Atlas rocket line in favor of a new rocket line called Vulcan, which will use engines made from Jeff Bezos’ US Blue Origin missile company. It is unclear when this missile will be ready for flight.
The ban also applies to RD-181 engines used in Northrop Grumman’s Antares missiles, according to Russian state media. These rockets are used to power unmanned supply missions to the International Space Station. Northrop Grumman did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
“To date, there have been plans to supply an additional 12 RD-181 engines in 2022-2024 and talks have been held with the United States to supply RD-181M engines with improved performance, but we believe that in this situation we can no longer to deliver our best engines to the United States, “said the head of Roscosmos.
The United States has other ways to deliver cargo to and from the space station. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft are often used for this purpose.
“Let them fly on something else, on their brooms,” Rogozin told Russian television on Thursday.