this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2024
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What a weird article, ULA is just as commercial as SpaceX, and they've been launching all sorts of military payloads.
Now, I get that the US government would rather not be dependent on a billionaire who is on very friendly terms with their geopolitical opponents. But that doesn't mean SpaceX doesn't exist.
SpaceX doesn't use Russian engines, though. That's what this article is referring to, now all US rockets are free from Russian parts.
Technically this isn't true. The US military no longer has any unfulfilled launch contracts that will use Russian engines, but the ULA still has some RD-180s that they will almost certainly use for future commercial launches. Today simply marks the end of the RD-180 as a means of launching military payloads.
You're absolutely correct - I toured the ULA Decatur booster faculty mere days ago. There's spaceforce-branded parts bolted onto Centaur rockets using Russian engines all over the place. Now to be fair they also have an engine made in Washington too but this stuff takes a looooong time to make any changes.