Reuters reported Thursday night that the Pentagon is expected to forward its recommendations on the approval of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) to the Federal Trade Commission on Friday. The report offers no hints on whether the Pentagon will recommend the merger of Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s government launch operations, or if there will be any proposed restrictions or conditions on the deal. The FTC will have the final word on the proposed merger. If the ULA isn’t finalized by the end of this month, either company can withdraw from the deal, although both companies have publicly professed their continued support for the joint venture.
Judgement Day (of sorts), huh? Will the DOD do the right thing and can this monopolistic disaster? Not bloody likely!
Space Command is on the chopping block. AFSPC units are being realigned to shape the USAF’s myopic “vision” or air & space integration. The Space Aggressors are answering to fighter pilots. The “Warfare” was taken out of the Space Warfare Center. The Space Commission Report has been twisted beyond recognition into a perverted tool of the status quo.
Why not give our entire space access capability to a corporate interest? The USAF has made it a disaster anyway!
I largely agree. Did anyone notice in this week’s Space News that the government has essentially made EELVs a standard government procurement and completely abandoned the idea of a semi-commercial operation? And people complain about NASA. . . .
— Donald