Most of the attention to Boeing’s 2005 financial results released yesterday focused on the boffo results of its commercial airliner business. Still, one financial analyst thought to ask Boeing executives about the status of the United Launch Alliance, and got this response from Boeing CFO James Bell, according to this transcript provided by the Wall Street Journal [subscription required]:
Don’t know if it will happen this quarter. I think it will happen. It’s both supported by us and Lockheed. And I think we’re answering the questions that the Department of Defense and others that are reviewing that transaction have. So, we just need to hang in there and keep working it, but I think it will happen. Maybe not this quarter.
Since earlier reports indicated that the Defense Department had given at least preliminary approval to the deal, one wonders if Bell’s statement means that the companies are still slogging through the paperwork and bureaucracy needed to get final approval, or if new objections or sticking points had been raised.
Let’s hope this means the ULA is close to dying. The DOD is getting ripped off, its the acquisition corps fault, and the ULA leadership will bully the DOD all the way to the bank. I pray that someone in the military space effort has a backbone to stand up to this. No monopoly is ever good.
I wonder if the ULA will mean that both LockMart and Boeing will contract with the same chapter of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers?
Don’t hold your breath. My suspicion is the damn thing will happen. Short of SpaceX’s lawsuit, which I admit might work, I expect this will go forward, given this administrations love of big corps – whether they screw you or not.
I sincerely hope this means that this disaster-in-the-making is almost dead. I do hope SpaceX manages to drive a stake through its heart.
— Donald