spacetoday.net: Air Force expected to lift Boeing launch ban

Posted: Fri, Mar 4, 2005, 7:31 AM ET (1231 GMT)
Delta 4 first launch cose-up image (Boeing)

The Air Force is expected to lift as early as Friday a ban on launch vehicle contracts with Boeing, according to media reports. Peter Teets, acting Secretary of the Air Force, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that Boeing has resolved the ethical problems that led to the ban and that the Air Force was ready to lift the ban "in the near term." Various reports suggest that the ban could be lifted as soon as the end of the day Friday. Lifting the ban will require Boeing and the Air Force agree to a 25-page agreement, the Los Angeles Times reported, as well as pay up to $170 million to cover the costs the Air Force incurred because of the ban; Boeing could also be required to partially finance the construction of a Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Air Force imposed the contracting ban in mid-2003 after finding that Boeing employees improperly gained access to proprietary Lockheed Martin documents during the first round of EELV bidding in the 1990s. The Air Force also transferred to Lockheed seven launches originally awarded to Boeing.