Moscow. April 12. INTERFAX-The sale of RD-180/RD-181 engines in the United States brings about a third of the total revenue to NPO Energomash, Maxim Ovchinnikov, First Deputy Director of Roscosmos for Economics and Finance, said in an interview with Interfax.
"From the point of view of refusing to buy our products, these risks are also clear. "About Energomash: in terms of revenue, we are talking about 10 to 13 billion rubles. These are quite significant volumes - about a third of the company's revenue, " Ovchinnikov said.
"It is clear that this (the termination of the supply of rocket engines-IF) for Energomash will be quite a significant loss in the economy, but, nevertheless, we are working on separate options for the supply of these products to other customers and will do everything to avoid direct dependence on only one-two-three customers in this market," he added.
Earlier, proposals were repeatedly put forward to stop the supply of engines to the United States in response to Washington's anti-Russian sanctions.
In December, it became known that in 2021, Energomash will supply at least 10 RD-180/RD-181 rocket engines to the United States.
The RD-180 engines are used by the American company United Launch Alliance in the Atlas-5 launch vehicle. Another American company, Orbital ATK, supplies RD-181 engines. They are used in the Antares rockets, with which Cygnus cargo ships are sent to the International Space Station.
According to the NGO Energomash, 116 RD-180 engines have been delivered to the United States since 1999. In recent years, the US Congress has repeatedly called on the US Air Force to abandon their use. However, according to congressmen, it is unlikely to be possible to replace Russian rocket engines until 2024, including due to the significant high cost of the American counterpart being created.
