TSAMTO, July 21. The press secretary of Roscosmos, Vladimir Ustimenko, denied the report that the corporation had received permission from the US government to conclude a contract for the supply of RD-181M rocket engines, RIA Novosti reports.
"In yesterday's post..> an annoying typo has crept in… In fact, we were talking about the permission to conclude a contract given by the Russian government, " he wrote in the Telegram channel.
Earlier, the authorities allowed Roscosmos to hold negotiations on supplies.
Russia supplied two engines to the United States: the RD-180 (used on the first stage of the Atlas-5 rocket) and the RD-181. According to the NGO "Energomash", since 1999, American companies have received 122 RD-180 engines, of which 93 have already been used.
The last batch was handed over in April. The United States told RIA Novosti that they intend to stop operating Atlas missiles with the RD-180 in the mid-2020s. To replace Atlas, a Vulcan rocket is being created with American BE-4 engines from Blue Origin.
RD-181 are placed on the first stage of the Antares rocket – two pieces each. In total, since 2015, the United States has received 22 engines, of which 18 have already been used, the agency notes
