Pentagon to review SpaceX
Watchdog agency eyes certification to launch national security satellites
A Pentagon watchdog agency plans to review the certification the Air Force granted SpaceX to launch national security satellites, a key source of revenue for the company founded by Elon Musk.
The move comes three years after SpaceX and the Air Force settled a lawsuit that ultimately led to the Air Force granting the company the certification. SpaceX had argued that it should be given the right to compete against the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, for the lucrative launch contracts. At the time, ULA held a virtual monopoly on the contracts for about a decade.
Bloomberg News first reported the inspector general’s review.
In a letter to the Air Force leaders, the Defense Department inspector general said that its “objective is to determine whether the U.S. Air Force complied with the Launch Services New Entrant Certification Guide when certifying the launch system design for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles.”
A spokesman for the inspector general could not say what prompted the review. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For years, SpaceX waged a high-profile campaign to be able to compete for the launch contracts, waging a David vs. Goliath war against two of the biggest military contractors in the world. Musk accused military officials of trying to curry favor with the ULA, which he said was trying to put him out of business. SpaceX also fought in court, saying it should be able to compete for the launches, which it had identified as a key revenue source.
Then-Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James appointed a former high-ranking Pentagon official to lead an independent review of the certification process, which she said at the time would explore whether there are “ways that we can streamline, speed it up, do things a little bit differently.”
For years, there has been a significant culture clash between SpaceX, the hardcharging company with a Silicon Valley ethos and the more bureaucratic Pentagon office. “There’s always tension there,” said a former senior defense official.
Finally, in 2015, the Air Force and SpaceX settled the lawsuit, and the Air Force granted SpaceX certification of its Falcon 9 rocket, allowing it to compete against ULA, the only other company that holds a certification. Since then, SpaceX has won several missions and has completed one, the launch of a GPS satellite.
Given the value of the contract awards — single launches can be worth more than $100 million — “there is a lot of pressure,” said a former senior defense official. “It’s big business.”
Last year, the Air Force certified another of SpaceX’s rockets, the more powerful Falcon Heavy, which can lift even heavier payloads to orbit. It was certified after a single flight, meaning SpaceX would have been required to give the Air Force “a ton of data,” the official said. Still, “that probably did raise eyebrows,” the official said.