spacetoday.net: Air Force grants waiver for Boeing GPS launches

Posted: Fri, Aug 27, 2004, 10:48 AM ET (1448 GMT)
Delta 2 launch of GPS 2R-12 (Boeing)

The Air Force granted a waiver to The Boeing Company Thursday to carry out the launches of four GPS satellites over the next year despite a contracting ban against the company. The $54 million contract covers the costs to complete the preparations for the launches of four GPS satellites scheduled to occur during the 2005 fiscal year. The satellites will be launched using Delta 2 boosters already acquired by the Air Force. The contract required the Air Force to waive an existing ban on launch contracts with Boeing because of ethical violations uncovered during an investigation last year; Air Force officials justified the waiver because it has no alternative for launching the GPS satellites, and any delay in their launch could carry a significant cost. Air Force officials suggested earlier in the week that they may end the ban in the near future, perhaps by the end of the current fiscal year, but no official schedule for lifting the ban has been announced. The decision to grant the launch waiver does not sit well with at least one Congressional staffer, Space News reported, because the Air Force had previously issued two other waivers to the ban since it was enacted last July. The staffer has asked the Air Force to explain why it granted this waiver and why another launch vehicle could not be used for the GPS satellites.