mr. brunocognized for five minutes to summarize your opening statement. >> thank you. chairman rogers ranking member cooper members of the committee, i appreciate the opportunity to come here today and talk -- and talk about our ongoing transformation of ula and our journey to replace the russian rd-180 with an all-american solution for our rocket engine. as you know, we partnered with blue origin last year for the development of the be-4 engine. it is a methane engine. it was 3 1/2 years into its development and the engine portion of that effort was fully funded allowing us to move out smartly on that activity. rocket science is hard and rocket engines are the hardest partpart. so prudence required that i also enter into a partnership with aerojet rocket dime for the ar-1 rocket engine as a backup. that's a kerosene engine. it is at present 16 months behind the blue origin 4 engine simply because it started later and it does require significant government funding in order to continue. both eng

mr. bruno. you are recognized for five minutes to summarize your opening statement. >> thank you, chairman rogers, ranking member cooper member of the committee, i appreciate the opportunity to come here today and talk about our ongoing transformation of ula and our journaly to y journey to replace the russian rd-180. as you know, we partnered with blue origin last year for the development of the be 4 engine. it is a methane engine. it was 3 1/2 years into its development, and the engine portion of that effort was fully funded allowing us to move out smartly on that activity. rocket science is hard and rocket engines are the hardest part, so prudence required that i also enter into a partnership with areao jet rocket dine as a backup. that's a kerosene engine. it is at present 16 months behind the blue origin 4 engine because it started later, and it does require significant government funding in order to continue. both engines are currently on plan. they are meeting their project and technical

mr. bruno mentioned far 15, i think you called it. and that is a requirement that you have to endure, that some others might not. but i'm not sure, is all of far 15 good paperwork, necessary paperwork. can we stream line far 15 to reduce the burden for anybody subjected to all of the paperwork burden. it is not the ten commandments it is not written in stone? >> the federal acquisition regulations provide for different models. 15 is one set, another set is referred to as 12 and there are others that do exactly that and provide guidance when it is appropriate to use the less elaborate systems. >> so there is some flexibility within that. is far-15 the biggest and scariest monster out there. >> yes. >> but there are bigger monsters. but you just mentioned that to scare us. ghost stories. >> it happens in the world we live in at ula. >> the question that was mentioned, monopoly. but nobody likes monopoly but in the best case we would have adieu only or adieu og only, we need other millionaire to b

[speaking spanish] and now it is my pleasure to yield the floor to our guest bruno rodriguez. mr.: good afternoon. sorry for being late. we just had a respectful meeting with secretary john kerry, with the secretary of state we had an exchange on the issue discussed between president raul castro and barack obama during their historic juncker -- encounter in panama. the current status of the bilateral relations and the progress achieved since the announcement of december 17 2014, including cuba's removal from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and the expansion of official exchanges on issues of common interests and the establishment of diplomatic relations and reopening of embassies. i conveyed the recognition of our people and government to president obama for his determination to work for the lifting and urging congress to eliminate and his willingness to adopt executive measures that modify the implementation of some aspects of some of these policies. the scope is still limited but it is headed in the right direction. we have emphasized in the meantime that the president o

mr. kerry: let me reinforce what bruno has said. honestly part of the , negotiations leading up to the opening of the embassies was a matter of coming to agreement with respect to all the diplomatic functions. we spent time, under secretary assistant secretary jacobson was negotiating with her counterpart in the foreign minister and i then met and signed off on an agreement which is in accord with the vienna conventions and meets both of our countries' understandings of what is needed and what is appropriate at this moment in time. it could be subject to change, but for the moment we are satisfied and we are living within the structure of the vienna conventions. >> next question, from voice of america. >> good afternoon. welcome, foreign minister rodriguez. in your discussions today, did you establish any sort of roadmap for talks going forward? if so, what are your priorities? do you envision a political opening in cuba in areas such as greater freedom of speech and assembly and the legalization of opposition parties? and, secretar

mrs. obama. make some noise. >> on the other side of the mall, the presidentbrated independence day at the white house. bruno mars there performed at an event for military families on the south lawn. president obama thanked them for their service and sacrifice to our country. >> we thank everyone who does so much each and every day to defend our country. without you, we couldkoocould not enjoy the incredible blessings that we do in this greatest country on earth. >> the white house did have to cancel its annual barbecue for military families because of the weather. now, if you missed the fireworks yesterday, you have a few options. brandywine, maryland will celebrate with fireworks at 9:00 tonight at the spirit of faith christian center. also takoma park postponed its show until today because of the rain. you can see those fireworks at takoma park middle school on piney branch road around 9:30 tonight. >>> all eyes will be on the royal family today for the christening of their newest edition baby charlotte. the big role pippa could fill. >>> and why several cities out west are silencing the iconic why are we

bruno rodriguez parilla raised the flag. ♪ ♪ viva! >> later in the day secretary of state john kerry and the cuban prime minister discussed the occasions of the opening. >> [speaking spanish] >> her excellency, mrsberto jacobson, officials of the u.s. government accompanies her. honorable members of congress, esteemed representatives of the u.s. organizations, movement and institutions who made huge efforts in favor of the change in the u.s.-cuba policy and the improvement of bilateral relations. distinguished ambassadors. officials and workers of the cuban embassies, esteemed friends. [speaking spanish] >> the flags that you revere at the entrance of this room is the same that was here 53 years ago which is kept in florida in the company of a family of liberators and have in kept ever since then. as a sort of premonition that this day would come. the sacrifices made and the struggle which, for more than 100 years fire people for their independence and determination. facing the most fierce challenges and risks. today we pay homage to all those who died and renewed the commitment of the present generation with absolute confidence in the generation to come, to service with honor. >> [speaking span

mr. bruno has stated both the b-4 and the ar-1 would work on the atlas five with modifications. one with more modifications than the other. can you describe the extent to which we would have to modify the at last five for your engine to work? >> i think that's a better question for mr. bruno. it's -- but the engine, when you're developing a new engine you start with requirements and the details really matter. because it is so far along in its development, those details are much more well understood so that mr. bruno's team at ula can look at that and design the right system to meet the national security needs. >> mr. bruno, i'd love for you to visit there topic. >> this is an excellent sort of example of the difference between an engine provider and a launch vehicle service provider. it will not cost tens of millions of dollars to incorporate any version of an ar-1. recall that we started with an understanding that the performance level coming out of either of these two engines will not match t

mr. bruno, you would know that the united states -- and we have members of congress we want to make sure we have assured access to space which means we need multiple launch service providers for the eelv program. that being the case you know, your investors have to understand that it is not in our interest of the nation to have two providers and one of them go out of business and end up with a monopoly. which means there's going to be some level of security. would you agree with that? and are your investors, your parents, aware of that? >> the only data i have to operate at the moment is the forecast the government has provided for the space lift that occurs in that window of time. and it's important to remember that we're the ride for national security assets. they're recapitalized in waves. so we are currently recapitalizing a set of national security satellites that are well past their design life. that's going to complete in a short number of years. the pipeline being designed and built, it