McDONNELL DOUGLAS has awarded Aerojet a follow-on contract to supply a further 40 AJ10-118K second-stage engines for the Delta 2. The restartable, nitrogen tetroxide-Aerozine-50, hypergolic engine has a total burn time of 432s and a thrust of 43kN (9,750lb). The two-stage Delta 2 has been booked for 13 missions carrying the Iridium and Globalstar communications satellites. A three-stage version has been committed to up to 36 US Air Force launches of Block 2R Navstar global-positioning satellites.
Source: Flight International