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Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by phkahler on Thursday November 03, 2016 @11:03AM (#12864507)
>> This is because any mature rocket technology can trivially be adjusted to be a nuclear weapons delivery platform.

There is also the issue of maintaining the capability domestically. If someone else is too cheap it would destroy the local capability. Imagine the US losing the ability to launch it's own satellites - like it lost the ability to launch people.

That said, there needs to be a way to make domestic launches competitive, so helping SpaceX or others while blocking foreign competition seem like a good idea all around. The goal should be to maintain domestic capability while hindering foreign nukes - not to maintain some company monopoly.

Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by dharmach on Thursday November 03, 2016 @11:18AM (#12864668)
On the other side, Lockheed Martin which already builds C-130J Super Hercules in India, now wants to manufacture F-16 too in India.
Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by azernik on Thursday November 03, 2016 @12:56PM (#12865708)
It builds the empennages in India, for integration with the full assembly in the US.

And in any case both of those are less sensitive technologies - a transport plane that other countries sell equivalents to, and a previous-generation fighter plane for which India is in any case the largest expected purchaser (the production lines in the US are being wound down, and the move to India would be part of a purchase by the IAF), and to etch the US has already approved sales.

We wouldn't sell India a Minuteman, so we're sure as hell not going to find their development of an equivalent.

Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by afterburner on Thursday November 03, 2016 @09:53PM (#12869773)
F-16's are old tech, which the US has been selling to its allies for decades. This helps finance continuing improvement, which keeps the US equipped with the best new military tech.
Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by kevin_thibedeau on Thursday November 03, 2016 @07:28PM (#12869047)
> Imagine the US losing the ability to launch it's own satellites - like it lost the ability to launch people.

We came pretty close to that brink after not bothering to invest in our own engine development. Makes the quarterly reports look great though.

Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by drzaiusapelord on Thursday November 03, 2016 @11:34AM (#12864820)
> like it lost the ability to launch people.

The US has not remotely lost the ability to launch people in the context you're suggesting (lost knowledge, lost budget, lost political will). Its literally between launch systems. No knowledge or budget has been lost. On top of it, its doing what no other nation seems able to do, spark a space race between corporations with their own goals and cost-cutting measures. That's on top of NASA's incredible record of space science missions and robotic missions in the interim.

As far as the RD-180 issue goes, ULA buys those engines and re-packages them into domestic launch vehicles that create domestic jobs and keep the majority of the profits local. There's a big difference both practically and politically between this and having a foreign company launch your satellites. So India is not being treated that differently here.

That said, RD-180 purchasing is being phased out. The Delta IV is being retired and that only leaves the Atlas V, which I believe is no longer allowed to buy new engines since an earlier sale this year. That's on top of the Pentagon approving $162m to help fund the AR1 and BE-4 engines which will ultimately replace the RD-180 for the ULA.

Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by Animats on Thursday November 03, 2016 @02:02PM (#12866350)
The US has not remotely lost the ability to launch people in the context you're suggesting (lost knowledge, lost budget, lost political will). Its literally between launch systems.

NASA has failed at how many launch system projects since the Space Shuttle?

Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by sithadmin on Thursday November 03, 2016 @04:46PM (#12867789)
I'm not sure it counts as 'failing' when programs are under-funded, then de-funded entirely.
Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by srean on Thursday November 03, 2016 @11:38PM (#12870186)
That's the point. A budget that looks underfunded to NASA is looks fantastically lavish in the context of ISRO (the Indian counterpart to NASA).
Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by NeutronBoy on Thursday November 03, 2016 @06:22PM (#12868555)
In a startup failing and iterating is a goal. Why should this be different in a government organisation?

(Assuming you learn from your failures)

Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by turar on Thursday November 03, 2016 @07:09PM (#12868921)
If you could before, and can't now, isn't that pretty much a definition of "losing it"?
Re:Why America Needs India’s Rockets by kerbalspacepro on Thursday November 03, 2016 @02:33PM (#12866634)
Two.