Article 3GZWG Financial documents raise questions about AR1 engine’s readiness

Financial documents raise questions about AR1 engine’s readiness

by
Eric Berger
from Ars Technica - All content on (#3GZWG)
vulcan-800x435.jpg

Enlarge / United Launch Alliance has yet to select its booster engines for the Vulcan rocket. (credit: United Launch Alliance)

Publicly, the venerable US rocket engine company Aerojet Rocketdyne maintains that it is committed to finishing development of its powerful new AR1 engine by 2019. By meeting this deadline, company officials say, they will provide an all-American engine in time for use by United Launch Alliance's next-generation rocket.

However, a review of recent financial US Securities and Exchange Commission filings by Aerojet reveals that, even as it says progress is being made toward completing the AR1 rocket engine, the company is spending substantially less money developing it.

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A rendering of Aerojet's AR1 rocket engine. (credit: Aerojet Rocketdyne)

Based on 10-K and 10-Q filings from 2016 and 2017, Aerojet had been spending more than $25 million per quarter during the first half of 2016. Funding levels, which include money from the US Air Force, Aerojet, and United Launch Alliance, rose during the second half of 2016 and peaked in the first quarter of 2017, when the company invested $36.6 million. This is consistent with the normal development curve of a new rocket engine, when large amounts of funding are needed for research, development, and testing.

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