The Pentagon will not grant United Launch Alliance a waiver allowing it to bypass a congressional ban on Russian-made engines that the company says it needs to compete in the multibillion-dollar national security launch market.
ULA, the Centennial-based joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing that had a monopoly on national security satellite launches for a decade, had pleaded with the Pentagon for a waiver that would allow it to use more RD-180 engines to power its Atlas V rocket.
For the first time in years, ULA has to compete for that work after SpaceX recently was certified by the Pentagon to compete for those contracts.
The company has four of the engines that it could use for national security launches. But ULA CEO Tory Bruno recently told reporters the company needs at least 14 to compete to launch payloads, such as spy and communications satellites, before it is able to use an engine it is developing with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson said Friday that the Defense Department realizes that it “cannot be in the risky position of relying on only one source of space launch for critical national security satellites that must be launched reliably and on schedule.”
But she said Pentagon officials had determined that no “immediate action is required to address future risk.”
