U.S. to Remain Dependent on Russian Rocket Engines for Years Despite Billions Poured Into Domestic Alternatives

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is launched / Getty Images

 

Industry officials say military won’t move fully to American-built engines until at least 2024

The Pentagon will remain dependent on Russian rocket engines to launch military satellites into space through at least the mid-2020s, despite the U.S. government allocating billions of dollars to defense contractors to produce an American-made replacement.

The projection adds several years to initial targets laid out in 2014 by lawmakers and senior Air Force officials, who ordered the United States begin phasing out Russia’s RD-180 engines amid national security concerns spurred by the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea.

China’s State-Funded Company Looks to Profit Off US Patents

Company founded to blackmail US innovators could damage US economy

The Chinese regime is getting into the patent trolling business, having set up a company that will start suing American companies for patent fraud. Experts believe the new Chinese company, which the regime seeded with $50 billion in fluff patents, could be detrimental to American innovation.

Patent trolls, officially called patent assertion entities, are companies that produce no goods. They make their profits by buying vague and outdated patents, then suing other companies for violating their patents. According to a press release from the nonprofit Citizen Outreach, patent trolls cost the U.S. economy $29 billion a year and destroy jobs.

China’s shiny new patent troll is a company called Ruichuan IPR Funds. The company is based in China’s main technology hub in Zhongguancun, Beijing.