Posted on 06/09/2017 5:29:28 PM PDT by BenLurkin
nited Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) and Boeing (BA.N) said on Friday it was not given an opportunity to bid against rival SpaceX for the upcoming launch of the U.S. Air Force’s miniature X-37B space plane.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson disclosed during congressional testimony on Tuesday that the service was planning to fly its fifth X-37B mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
“ULA did not have the opportunity to bid for the Air Force’s fifth X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) mission which was recently awarded. ULA remains fully committed to continuing to support America’s national security missions with world-class launch services,” the company said in a statement.
Only United Launch Alliance and SpaceX are certified to launch U.S. military satellites.
The Air Force on Friday declined to confirm that it awarded the contract to Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, without soliciting other bids. It also declined to say when the contract was awarded or how much it is worth.
Four previous X-37B missions were launched by United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
ULA was the only company doing them, but SpaceX was recently certified. The government wants another launcher, so the only choice was to give SpaceX the contract. Most likely it’s for the same money or less.
The Air Force on Friday declined to confirm that it awarded the contract to Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, without soliciting other bids.
...
The CEO of ULA says they were not asked to bid.
SpaceX.....Elon Musk....big donor to Obama and recipient of taxpayer monies for his Tesla. Recently quit as an advisor on one of Trump’s committee because Trump walked away from the Paris Accords. Musk was likely chosen for his ties to Obama before Trump took office. No bid Government contracts is another thing Trump needs to stop....NOW.
Bids? How bourgeois! We are the State!
There is a website that exists for the purpose of publicizing requests for bids. I think it would be easy enough to check if this particular contracting action was listed for bidding on the site. I wish I could remember what the site is.
There is also the possibility that the Air Force went for a sole source contract, if they felt that only SpaceX could offer the service they need.
With the different possibilities here, it is difficult to say whether ULA has a valid complaint or not.
How much of the govt $ the UberLooter Musk gets ends up back in Obama’s pockets.
As long as the X-37B OTV has been around and as well as it has worked, the Air Force needs to drop the “X” and the “T”.
Space X certified.......what a joke. Expect other launch pads to be distroyed.
I do not know, I was mentioning a couple of possibilities. There is more involved to a launch than merely being able to get a vehicle into space; it is possible that ULA was not able to offer a service that SpaceX could provide.
Without having any inside knowledge, it is difficult to know what happened. We simply cannot say, based on the evidence in this article, whether ULA has a valid complaint or not.
LOL! SpaceX has been killing ULA on price. The SpaceX capability of reusing boosters by landing them after launch is going to drive down prices a lot lower. Musk is a genius, and SpaceX is his most innovative and important company, IMO. ULA is a dinosaur, and are the ones who had a cozy, crony-style relationship with the government. Competition is a great thing!
Here's the relevant information on price:
As of December 2016, a baseline Atlas 5 rocket launch was selling for about $109 million, though satellite operators can make up at least half that cost by getting more favorable insurance rates and other factors, including an on-time launch, ULA has said.http://fortune.com/2017/04/05/spacex-united-launch-alliance-rocket-price/In contrast, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, lists the base price of a Falcon 9 rocket launch on its website at $62 million.
There's not much need for a bid when SpaceX isn't much more than half the cost of ULA...
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