The US Air Force’s decision to award the joint Boeing/Lockheed Martin United Launch Alliance with a bulk buy of up to 36 Atlas V and Delta IV rocket launches without a proper competition has angered Elon Musk, leader and designer of Space Exploration Technologies Corp (Space X) to the point of legal action. He has formally announced in a Washington D.C. press conference that his firm would legally challenge a decision by the US Air Force to award these launch contracts without a proper competitive bidding process. A formal suit was later filed in the US Court of Federal Claims on 28 April 2014.
Musk had previously noted that not only does his SpaceX firm provide equivalent launches to at considerably cheaper prices, ULA also subsidised as it already receives US$1 billion from the US Air Force to cover its fixed costs. Musk also criticised the US Air Force for using Russian-sourced RD-180 rocket engines in the Atlas V launch vehicle implying that Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, would be benefiting from the rocket engines’ sale. Rogozin is currently on the US State Department’s sanctions list following Russia’s annexation of the Ukranian region of Crimea.
Musk’s critics however point out that the Falcon 9 series is relatively untried and that SpaceX’s 27-first/booster stage engine heavy lift version of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle is not even ready yet. Many of the US Air Force payloads need a heavy lift rocket to launch them. Musk has countered by noting that if his US-built rockets are good enough for NASA and should be good enough for the US military.
According to Space News the final word on Musk’s criticisms came from Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin who pithily fired back in a tweet: “Do they think that I keep the money from sales of our engines from state enterprises for myself? Morons.”
Comment by David Todd: When in comes to the virtues and interests of his company, Elon Musk does have a noted crabby temperament and overly defensive/combative style. Nevertheless, in this case he has a point. Why does such a large rocket order have to be made at this time to ULA? Officially this is because a bulk order will make good savings but one has to wonder.
Surely once the Falcon 9 Heavy has proven itself (say after five flights), it should be allowed to bid to carry US Department of Defense satellites. Likewise, it can be argued that similar to the experience of most Western launch vehicles, the smaller Falcon 9 v1.1 is now over its teething troubles. If the Falcon 9 is now good enough for commercial operators and insurers (a famously cautious bunch) then surely it should be good enough for the US Air Force. Assuming that the cosy US Military – Industrial Complex favouritism does into get in the way that is.
