Posted on 05/26/2015 7:22:46 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Making peace with US Air Force and dropping charges against the agency has paid off for SpaceX. Its Falcon 9 rocket has finally been certified, giving the company the right to compete for national security launches. Elon Musk's space corp has passed every requirement set by the Air Force, after a couple of years (and a few months of delay), lots of paperwork and tests. According to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, this certification allows more than one provider to compete for military launches, which is expected to cost the branch $70 billion until 2030, for the first time in around a decade. "Ultimately, leverage of the commercial space market drives down cost to the American taxpayer and improves our military's resiliency," she said in a statement.
If you recall, this all started when the armed service awarded an exclusive contract to United Launch Alliance (ULA), a Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture. The Air Force did make a handful of launches available for bidding, but Elon Musk sued the Air Force for the right to compete for more. He accused ULA of bribing an AF official with a lucrative VP position to get that solo contract and argued that the exclusivity will cost too much taxpayer money.
(Excerpt) Read more at engadget.com ...
That just might wrap it up for SLA.
Active Duty ping.
SLA?
Apparently, the Symbionese Liberation Army is now in the space launch business.
Quite a step up, that ...
That’s ok just giving you a hard time. Hang in there! Lol
More competition is certainly needed among contractors. One of our worst defense problems is high cost.
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