US is looking for a replacement for Russian rocket engines.

The United States Air Force announced a tender for the development of new engines for launch vehicles to replace the Russian RD-180. Applications for the competition are accepted until June 23. The total value of the contract is 160 million dollars, this money will be divided among several tender finalists.

A third of the costs of the companies participating in the project will have to be covered by themselves; subsequently, they will be able to compensate for these costs by further contracts with the US Air Force on satellite launches.

It is expected that participation in the competition will be, among others, the private space companies ULA (a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing) and SpaceX.