The convenience of Russian engines was also known in the West, and, as soon as the Cold War ended, in 1992 Pratt & Whitney signed an agreement with NPO Energomash for the production of RD-170s, produced by AMROSS and called RD-180s in this dual-chamber version, for Lockheed’s Atlas rockets. Atlas rockets that until a few years earlier had been aimed precisely at the USSR… The RD-180 has 15,000 fewer parts than the previous American Atlas engine… 362 tons of thrust. On May 24, 2000, Atlas III launched from Cape Canaveral. Successfully. In August 2002, Atlas V launched. Again with RD-180s. And they will launch, and continue to launch, with hundreds of Russian engines.
