KHIMKI, Moscow Region, July 13 (AVN) -- The local Energomash research and production enterprise supplied eight RD-180 liquid-propellant rocket engines to the US Lockheed Martin corporation in the first half of 2001, Vladimir Sudakov, head of the Energomash information department, said on Friday.
The enterprise fully implemented terms of the countact with Lockheed Martin in the period under consideration, Sudakov told the Military News Agency. The supplied engines will be installed in Atlas-3 heavy booster rockets.
Under the contract Energomash will supply a total of 18 engines to the United States, getting about USD10m for each item. The RD-AMROSS joint venture, established by Energomash and the US Pratt & Whitney corporation, is the mediator in the relations between the Russian and US companies. It finances the engine production. The price of the engines that the venture transfers to Lockheed Martin includes profits that the partners own in equal shares.
Sudakov said that Energomash had assembled another two RD-180s and was working on components for more engines. The enterprise gets combustion chambers from Samara, special steels from Chelyabinsk and some other components from other Russian cities.
The RD-180 oxygen-kerosene engine was designed on the basis of the RD-170 engine installed in Energia and Zenit boosters. Unlike four-chambered RD-170, the new engine has two combustion chambers and the thrust of about 200t.