Lockheed-Boeing Venture Told to Launch More Satellites
- The United Launch Alliance had three launches in 2023
- Elon Musk’s competitor SpaceX had 96 total launches last year
The United Launch Alliance Vertical Integration Facility at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Photographer: Michelle Bruzzese/BloombergThe Lockheed Martin Corp.-Boeing Co. joint venture that competes with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch the US’s most sensitive satellites needs to pick up its pace as the Air Force is trying to certify its newest rocket as mission-ready, according to the service’s top acquisition official.
“Launch is foundational to our ability to deliver critical capabilities to orbit, and we need the commercial launch industry ready to meet the growing demand” for national security satellites, Frank Calvelli, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for space acquisition, said in a prepared statement Wednesday to a House Armed Services panel.