Jane Edwards
Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin‘s space systems segment, has said Lockheed and Boeing are committed to fund the development of their 50-50 joint venture’s Vulcan rocket, Space News reported Thursday.
Mike Gruss writes Ambrose told a press briefing at the Satellite 2016 conference in Maryland that uncertainty on how to move away from the Russia-built RD-180 engine has caused United Launch Alliance’s parent firms to adopt a cautious approach to investment in the new rocket.
“We have to be prudent, disciplined stewards of any kind of investment,†Ambrose said.
“Vulcan would be like any other investment decision.â€
ULA has allocated $134 million to fund the development of the Vulcan program and the U.S. Air Force has agreed to invest up to $201 million through a public-private partnership, Gruss reports.
The service branch’s investment will fund the integration of ULA’s rocket design with the Blue Origin-made BE-4 engine.
