And probably unnecessary at the technology level they're trying to achieve. They could easily produce pressure fed or gas pumped designs which might not achieve the pinnacle of mass ratio, but would have the decided quality of being more reliable. Even under duress of bad management decisions. I noticed the nuke programs (eg the Paki one too) had similar rigidity of design selection. Maybe the management culture doesn't reward innovation. Perhaps they might be more successful with an upper management change...?
Heheh...
Hell, they could use the one the V2 used. All it was powered by was Hydrogen Peroxide (not your normal 3%) and passed through a silver screen. It was enough to power the V2.
If they were smart, they would use the J2 style engines in the Saturn 2nd stage. They still used turbopumps but they weren’t under as much stress as the SSMEs or the 1st stage Saturn’s. They also, if they’re smart, get the extra thrust put out by the turbopump’s power section instead of wasting it like I believe we did with the Atlas rockets.