SpaceX to file official protest against US Air Force over military-related launches
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Private space corporation SpaceX announced plans to file an official protest against the U.S. Air Force over the right to perform national security-related launches.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday afternoon, company founder and CEO Elon Musk said it was unfair that a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin has had a monopoly on the U.S. government’s military satellite launches. The United Launch Alliance (ULA), as the venture is called, formed in 2006 and uses the Atlas V rocket, the main engine of which is Russian-made.
“This seems like the wrong time to send hundreds of millions of dollars to the Kremlin,” Musk said Friday, referring to Russia’s recent actions in Ukraine.
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In March, Musk claimed in testimony on Capitol Hill that his company could save American taxpayers an estimated $11.6 billion annually in rocket launch costs.
The projected price of the military's current satellite-launch program is estimated at $70 billion through 2030, according to a Government Accountability Office report released March 4.
"Despite the continuing promise of lower costs since 2006, the fact is that the current situation of sole-source providers has become unsustainable," Musk said in his testimony before the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense in March. "[SpaceX is] ready to compete for the national security market."
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Musk also announced Friday the successful soft landing of its Falcon rocket in the Atlantic. Although it was destroyed by high waves, Musk called the landing a “huge milestone,” as it could allow for reusable rockets to land at Cape Canaveral, Fla., a goal Musk said SpaceX was hoping to achieve by the end of the year.
FoxNews.com’s Karl de Vries and Sasha Bogursky contributed to this report.