A new rocket engine by 2019? Air Force says no; Aerojet Rocketdyne says yes.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Homeland Security News

* The Air Force and the nation's key space launch provider are expressing doubts that a deadline will be met to replace a Russian-built rocket engine needed to loft heavy national security satellites.

"I'm not sure 2019 is doable," Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said at a recent hearing on Capitol Hill.

Meanwhile, one of the nation's leading rocket engine makers, Aerojet Rocketdyne, said it is possible.

At issue is the RD-180, a first-stage engine needed to power the Atlas V rocket, which is supplied by a Russian manufacturer, NP Energomash. The-crisis in Ukraine in 2014 sparked a series of tit-for-tat sanctions between Russia and the United States. A statement from senior Russian leadership that the nation would stop supplying the Russian-built engine to the United States for military purposes highlighted U.S. dependence on the engine, and sounded an alarm in Congress.

Lawmakers responded in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act by banning the use of RD-180 engines after 2019, and allocating $220 million for the development of a replacement engine.

"We agree that it's aggressive, but it's doable," said Linda Cova, Aerojet Rocketdyne's executive director for hydrocarbon engines programs, responding to James' comments on the 2019 deadline.

James testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee that experts with whom she had consulted say it will take six or seven years to develop the engine, plus another one or two years to integrate it into current rockets.

"So this truly is rocket science. These are hard technical problems," she said. "To have that 2019 date there is pretty aggressive and I'm not sure we can make it."

United Launch Alliance President Salvatore "Tory" Bruno said the company would like an easing of the 2019 deadline. ULA is a joint Boeing-Lockheed Martin venture that provides launch services to the U.S. government, using both the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets. The company intends to phase out both its rockets and replace it with a program called the next-generation launch system, Bruno told the publication Space News.

The Delta IV is capable of launching heavy payloads but is more expensive.

The cost of launching rockets is a factor as ULA's monopoly on government contracts is seemingly coming to an end. Upstart SpaceX is expected to have its smaller Falcon 9 rocket certified for government launches this year and is proceeding with a larger version, the Falcon Heavy.

This creates a scenario where SpaceX may...