The RD-250 rocket engine was produced at the Ukrainian Yuzhmash factory until 2001, Yuriy Radchenko, head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine, told journalists in Kiev. At the Ukrainian facility, the double chamber, liquid-propellant RD-250 engines were mated with the Soviet R-36 ICBM during the Cold War. The engines were also used for the Cyclone 2 and 3 rockets, which Russia used to launch satellites into space until 2006 and 2009, respectively.
After the Soviet Union’s breakup in 1991, the Ukrainian Yuzhmash factory continued to produce RD-250 engines, but solely for use in space rockets supplied to Russia. Both the RD-250 engines and the Cyclone rockets “were made at Yuzhmash in the interests of Russia,” Radchenko said. In total, 233 Cyclone rockets were produced in Ukraine and sent to Russia. Russia cut its orders of the Cyclone rocket in 2006, and the Yuzhmash factory has not found another buyer. Only Russia currently possesses the rockets, all of which are mated with Ukrainian-made RD-250 engines. Russia has between seven and 20 of the Cyclone rockets stored in unknown locations, Radchenko claimed. If North Korea did in fact receive modified RD-250 engines from an outside source, Ukraine’s space chief claimed it was from Russia, not Ukraine. “They [Russia] can supply these engines from the finished rockets to whomever they want,” Radchenko said.
