HARBIN, June 30 (RIA Novosti) - The United States “has come to its senses after its sanction fever” and is prepared to increase its purchases of Russian rocket engines, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Monday.
Rogozin said earlier that Russia could respond to US sanctions by halting deliveries of RD-180 and K-33 rocket engines to the United States.
“The Americans even buy K-33 and RD-180 engines from us and are now ready to buy even more engines from us once they came to their senses after their ‘sanction fever,’” Rogozin said during the first day of the First Russian-Chinese EXPO in northeastern China.
According to Rogozin, China is also interested in Russian rocket engines.
“[The Chinese] also need these engines to deliver more serious payloads and we’re interested in these [engine] deliveries,” the deputy prime minister said.
Earlier in March, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered the country’s air force commanders to reconsider cooperation with Russia in the military and technical sphere and to reduce dependence on Russian rocket engines.
According to Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, the US still cannot find a proper replacement for the Russian-manufactured engines.
According to Bloomberg, the development of a rocket engine to replace the RD-180 used to launch the American Atlas V rocket, would cost the US $1.5 billion and take up to six years.
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