Air Force Spending $60 Million for SpaceX U.S. Launches

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-15/u-s-air-force-busting-butt-to-certify-musk-s-spacex.html


A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket attached to the cargo-only capsule called Dragon lifts off from the launch pad in this Oct. 7, 2012 file photo in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The U.S. Air Force is spending about $60 million and using as many as 100 people to certify billionaire Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. for launching military and spy satellites, according to the service’s top uniformed acquisition official.

“We’ve got folks busting their butt to get SpaceX certified despite what everything in the media seems to say,” Lieutenant General Charles Davis said in an interview.

Davis said the Air Force is eager to find opportunities for SpaceX in its $67.6 billion launch program as he sought to rebut Musk’s contention that the service is protecting a monopoly for United Launch Alliance LLC, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.

“We’ve had to react to SpaceX and members of Congress,” Davis said. “Now there’s allegations of cronyism; there’s allegations of ‘you just want to give money to ULA because you don’t want to have a new entrant certified.’”