A congressional ban on the use of Russian engines to launch U.S. national security payloads will hamstring what currently is the U.S. Defense Department's primary rocket maker, United Launch Alliance, in competitions for military business starting as early as this year, the U.S. Air Force has warned. In a written response to questions from SpaceNews, the Air Force said only "a very small number" of rocket engines currently on order by ULA from Russia meet the criteria for exemption from the ban, imposed in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2015 in response to Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
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