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• Jeff Foust
United Launch Alliance has appointed longtime company executive Mark Peller as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Peller succeeds the company’s previous leader as the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture navigates challenges surrounding its Vulcan rocket program.
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United Launch Alliance, the Boeing-Lockheed Martin rocket joint venture, is wrapping up a $1.5 billion private-bond transaction—three times the deal’s original size. The financing gives the venture a significantly larger capital-markets transaction as it advances its rocket business.
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United Launch Alliance has appointed longtime company executive Mark Peller as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Peller succeeds the company’s previous leader as the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture navigates challenges surrounding its Vulcan rocket program.
The Boeing-Lockheed Martin rocket joint venture plans to tap the private bond market to refinance existing debt. The transaction would provide fresh financing for the venture while highlighting the capital requirements facing major launch businesses and their shareholders.
The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a record up to $58.62 billion contract for Patriot interceptor missile production, while adding $54 billion to a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) agreement, bringing the total to about $59B; the latest Army contract is undefinitized. Rocket Lab also secured its largest launch contract to date—$266 million—for multi-launch suborbital missions with the U.S. Space Force.
United Launch Alliance’s corporate parents have provided a guaranteed loan to help the company address “financial challenges” tied to the ongoing Vulcan grounding. The support is intended to bridge the period of constrained launch activity and associated cost pressures.
United Launch Alliance deployed 29 Amazon Leo low-Earth-orbit broadband satellites on a July 2 launch from Florida, with ULA confirming the satellites’ insertion into orbit. The mission adds another batch to Amazon’s constellation deployment cadence using the Atlas V launcher.
The U.S. Space Force is considering a workaround to resume United Launch Alliance Vulcan missions while solid rocket boosters remain under investigation. The approach would fly Vulcan without the troubled boosters for certain national-security launches, potentially preserving some on-orbit delivery cadence during the grounding.
As the U.S. Space Force investigates the root cause of a booster anomaly tied to a Feb. 26 Vulcan Centaur launch, it is also exploring alternatives to still use the rocket for less-complex missions. Pentagon and USSF priority setting is likely to drive mission swaps to keep capability on orbit.
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