Aerojet Rocketdyne has submitted a formal proposal to replace Russian motors with its AR1 rocket engine on future U.S. military space launches.
Winning would mean a lot of business for the Rancho Cordova-based company for years to come. Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD) is the region's largest publicly traded company.
Early in June, the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile System Center launched a fast-paced competition seeking domestic development of a launch system to replace the Russian engines currently used for U.S. heavy launches. Aerojet Rocketdyne jumped at the chance, and submitted its formal plan on Aug. 28.
The company is now into the second step of the competition. The final winner could be chosen next year.
Aerojet Rocketdyne is designing the rocket motor along with its partner United Launch Alliance, which is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.
Aerojet has had the AR1 in development for two years. It was designed to be a flexible motor, used individually for light loads or bundled for heavy lifting.
The AR1 motor provides 500,000 pounds of thrust, and can be used with very little modification to the existing United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle, which currently sends military, national security and Air Force payloads into orbit using a Russian launch motor.
American heavy space launches now depend on Russian-built RD-180 first-stage engines, which produce 1 million pounds of thrust.
The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act calls for the Russian-built RD-180 to be replaced by an American-made motors for national security space launches by 2019.
“We are pleased to provide the U.S. Air Force with a realistic solution to ending Russian engine dependence by 2019,” said Julie Van Kleeck, Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Advanced Space and Launch Programs vice president, in a news release. “This country needs a reliable, domestic capability for launching critical national security space launch payloads and our proposed program provides this.”
To build the AR1, Aerojet Rocketdyne has been using additive manufacturing techniques, which is like 3D printing in metal. Manufacturing using lasers to melt metal into complicated rocket components in testing this year represented a 70 percent reduction in production costs.