The head of the Kurchatov Institute: the United States bought RD-180 rocket engines, but could not make the same metal

President of the national research center “Kurchatov Institute” Mikhail Kovalchuk believes that the United States could not determine the composition of the metal alloy from which the Russian RD-180 rocket engines are made. He noted that the Russian Federation has been selling these engines to the United States for many years.

“Until now, the Americans are buying our RD-180 rocket engines … we have been selling them for many years. They take it apart, assemble it, take it apart, assemble it, but they can’t make metal,” said Mr. Kovalchuk at an open lecture at the Peter the Great Polytechnic University (quote from TASS).

The head of the Kurchatov Institute also noted the high level of Russian nuclear weapons. In his opinion, the United States will have to catch up with the Russian Federation for a long time in this area, as well as in the development of hypersonic technologies.

Roskosmos against the backdrop of the imposition of sanctions in March 2022 announced about the suspension of deliveries of rocket engines to the United States. The maintenance of already delivered engines was also stopped. According to the state corporation, since the mid-1990s, Russia has delivered 122 RD-180s to the United States for Atlas missiles.

Leonid Uvarchev