Lagatar24 Desk
Moscow, March 3: In retaliation for US sanctions over Ukraine, Russia has decided to suspend delivering rocket engines to the US, said Dmitry Rogozin, head of the state space agency Roscosmos on Thursday.
“In a situation like this we can’t supply the United States with our world’s best rocket engines. Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don’t know what,” Rogozin said.
Since the 1990s, Russia has delivered a total of 122 RD-180 engines to the United States, 98 of which have been utilised to power Atlas launch vehicles, according to Rogozin.
Roscosmos will also discontinue repairing rocket engines it previously sold to the United States, according to Rogozin, who added that the United States still possessed 24 engines that would be left without Russian technical support.
In response to Western sanctions over Ukraine, Russia has already stated that it would cease cooperation with Europe on space launches from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.
Moscow has also asked British satellite business OneWeb to ensure that its satellites will not be used for military reasons. On Thursday, OneWeb, a company in which the British government has a shareholding, announced that all launches from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan will be halted.
According to Rogozin, Russia will now concentrate on developing dual-purpose spacecraft to meet the needs of Roscosmos and the Defense Ministry.
