US Air Force blocked from buying Russia-made engines

[SINGAPORE] Billionaire Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp won a court order temporarily blocking the US Air Force from buying Russian-made rocket engines from a Boeing Co-Lockheed Martin Corp venture.

Judge Susan Braden's preliminary injunction doesn't cover earlier purchases or payments. She said she reached Wednesday's decision after considering public interest, national defence and security concerns.

SpaceX accused the Air Force of illegally shutting it out of the market for military satellite launches by giving a monopoly to the Boeing-Lockheed venture, which it said uses Russian-made engines.