
Russia Bans Rocket Engine Sales to U.S. Military - falsestprophet
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-13/russia-bans-rocket-engine-sales-to-u-s-military.html
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andrewtbham
>Rye said, “If recent news reports are accurate, it affirms that SpaceX’s
irresponsible actions have created unnecessary distractions, threatened U.S.
military satellite operations, and undermined our future relationship with the
International Space Station.”

I think you could argue that ULA, by outsourcing the engines, is what
threatens the operation. How is it Space X's fault?

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MichaelApproved
I believe they're referring to Musk legal action as the distraction.

> Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has sued the U.S. Air Force,
> claiming it created an illegal monopoly for the military’s satellite launch
> business.

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Crito
As basically a sidenote to that lawsuit, SpaceX more or less said _" Oh and by
the way, how is it that they are buying engines with these sanctions in
place?"_. It was a rather tangential issue to the lawsuit itself.

All SpaceX did was publicize that issue, everything before and after that was
entirely the governments doing (the sanctions in the first place were on the
government, and the injunction on the ULA was placed by a judge, not SpaceX.
The injunction was lifted, again by the government, and the governments
currently poor diplomatic relations with Russia inspired Russia to essentially
make the injunction stick)

In other words, the ULA is just whining that SpaceX tattled on them. Any real
blame lies with either the people who made the rules, or with the people who
broke the rules (or both).

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mrt0mat0
who is this bad for? It seems good for SpaceX

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poopsintub
For a country with financial difficulties, it sure is taking some odd steps.
Write-off North Korea's debt, now cancel out million/billion dollar sales to
the U.S. for rockets. I guess they don't want us to build any more fighter
jets before NATO attacks. ;)

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jqm
Maybe they feel they might need the rocket engines in their inventory at some
point.

I think some rocket components were produced in Ukraine, not sure if that
applies to this. So maybe they don't want a limited supply diminished.

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seizethecheese
> I think some rocket components were produced in Ukraine

If true, this is a significant wrinkle in the story.

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trhway
It is Yuzhmash in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine (still, Putin is working on the
issue).

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuzhnoye_Design_Bureau](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuzhnoye_Design_Bureau)
(search for Antares :)

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seacious
The Delta IV is more expensive than the Atlas V to launch. Will the ULA get
more money as a result? Is the contract cost plus or is it fixed rate?

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baq
elon must be a happy bunny right now.

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trhway
US must be a happy bunny that it have visionary people like Elon.

