spacetoday.net: FTC approves ULA formation

Posted: Tue, Oct 3, 2006, 8:26 PM ET (0026 GMT)
Atlas 5 launch of Rainbow 1 (ILS)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has agreed to allow the formation of the United Launch Alliance (ULA), the merger of the government launch operations of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, but with conditions. In a statement released late Tuesday, the FTC said that it would allow Boeing and Lockheed to proceed with the ULA, but only under the terms of a consent decree that requires the companies to cooperate equally with all manufacturers of government payloads and to protect sensitive information provided by those payload manufacturers. Proponents of the ULA argued that the joint venture would save the government money, while satellite manufacturers and other launch vehicle developers expressed concern that the ULA would give the two companies an unfair advantage for government launch and satellite work. Boeing and Lockheed announced the formation of the ULA in May 2005, hoping to win approval for the deal by the end of last year. In separate statements both companies said they would press ahead with completing work on ULA's formation but did not set a date for the deal to close.