The Air Force's plans for space access will take center stage onWednesday on Capitol Hill, as leaders defend the service's plans for launches ,and thereliance on a Russian-made rocket that the U.S. relies onto get to orbit.
The Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee will host Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Air Force Space Command commander Gen. John Hyten, along with Cristina Chaplain, the director of acquisition and sourcing management for the Government Accountability Office. The hearing, titled ''Military Space Programs,'' will focus on how the Air Force plans to continue to launch precious cargo.
The hearing comes as the Air Force is in a media blitz highlighting the importance of its space mission. The CBS news magazine ''60 Minutes'' aired an extensive documentary on Sunday on the Air Force's space mission, highlighting how it attempts to track space junk and defend its satellites from potential adversaries, such as China, which has tested weapons to take out satellites. Hyten also sat said down with reporters Tuesday earlier today in Washington, highlighting the command's mission in protecting U.S. assets in orbit.
The Air Force's largest point of contention in the Air Force its space budget is the use of the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine, which that the combined team of Boeing- and Lockheed Martin's team United Launch Alliance relies on for its Atlas V launch vehicles. Congress, in the fiscal 2015 defense bill, directed the Air Force to stop using the engine by 2019.
The Air Force has said this deadline is not realistic as the service works to find a replacement and certify new entrant SpaceX to carry national security payloads.
House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, in his markup of the 2016 defense bill authorizes the Air Force to spend $185 to develop a new rocket system.
