The United Launch Alliance (ULA) received from the first Blue Origin rocket engine BE-4, designed to replace the Russian RD-180. The representatives of the ULA announced on Twitter.
Powerplant for the first stage of the rocket Vulcan created for replacing the Atlas V with the Russian RD-180 engine, arrived in Alabama this month.
The new unit is serial and will be used for testing together with a carrier, a spokesman for Blue Origin portal Space News. The company plans to put a second engine BE-4 to the end of this month.
In 2018, ULA announced that the Vulcan will set rocket engine BE-4. The first flight of the carrier was to be held this year, but it was postponed.
The Russian RD-180 engines installed on the American boosters Atlas family. These missiles, according to analysts, are used to "critical space launches carried out in the interests of US national security".
Previously, the magazine the National Interest wrote that the law obliges the U.S. air force to abandon the use of the RD-180, however, according to the newspaper, this will not happen until at least 2024. Congress also recognized the inability to replace Russian engines on American in the next ten years.
