SpaceX vs. ULA

SpaceX has reacted angrily to the launch of a publicity campaign and lobbying effort by United Launch Alliance, the sole supplier of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles for the Air Force.

In a June 20 statement, sent to InsideDefense.com by SpaceX spokesman John Taylor, the company said the campaign, launched this week, is aimed at distracting lawmakers from the benefits of competition.

"ULA doesn't believe in competition. Monopolists never do," the statement said. "In ULA's case, it would rather call a press conference to announce an inside-the-beltway lobbying campaign aimed at distracting lawmakers from the benefits competition brings to the marketplace: better technology, improved reliability and affordable prices."

The statement follows ULA CEO Michael Gass' June 18 conference call with reporters, during which he addressed two contentious issues: SpaceX's legal dispute with the Air Force and ULA's use of Russian-built RD-180 first-stage rocket engines on the Atlas V EELV.

Those issues relate to the Air Force's award of a sole-source contract to ULA for 36 rocket cores, including Atlas Vs, and the continuing crisis in Ukraine, which is at the center of a geopolitical dispute between the U.S. and Russia.

"The truth is, ULA is wholly reliant upon its Russian business partner, and in doing so, it has cost the U.S. taxpayers billions [of dollars] and jeopardized the country's national security," SpaceX's statement said. "Faced with those facts, ULA is now seeking to convince Congress to bailout the company's bad business decision and it's criticizing a competitor for pressing the only real solution to the mess they have created -- fair and open competition to national security launches."

During the conference call, Gass defended the use of the RD-180 and said the engines could be domestically produced. He also said ULA is the only company certified to provide national security launches through the EELV program.

SpaceX is in the process of certifying its Falcon 9 launch vehicle to compete for those missions. The Falcon 9 has performed the three flights necessary to achieve certification, and the success of those launches are being verified by the Air Force as part of the certification process.

ULA is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

In a June 20 letter to Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) asked whether the price the Air Force is paying for the RD-180 through its contracts with ULA for Altas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles is "fair and reasonable." As InsideDefense.com reports:

McCain contends there is very little public information about the cost of the RD-180 and, in particular, the costs added at the points of transaction between the Russian manufacturer, the supplier, ULA and the Air Force.

According to ULA, which is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the engine supplier is the U.S.-based company RD Amross, which itself is a joint venture between United Technologies and the Russian manufacturer, NPO Energomash. The RD-180 is a core component of ULA's Atlas V rocket, which the Air Force buys for national security space launches.

McCain's letter cites accusations that those engines are being sold to the United States at "highly inflated prices," and calls on Kendall to supply information on how much RD Amross pays for the RD-180, how much ULA pays and how much the Air Force pays.