SpaceX Rival Backed By Boeing And Lockheed Martin Reportedly Up For Sale

Elon Musk-owned SpaceX competitor United Launch Alliance, or ULA, is reportedly up for sale.

What Happened: ULA, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT and Boeing Co. BA, was launched in 2006 and is expected to be sold later this year, reported Ars Technica, citing three sources.

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The space company has contacted potential buyers, stated the report. Global management service heads such as Morgan Stanley and Bain & Company have been roped in to advise the board on the transaction, the report added.

ULA is SpaceX’s biggest competitor. Until SpaceX took over a majority of the satellite launch assignments in the U.S., ULA had a monopoly on launching Pentagon projects. ULA currently relies on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin for rocket engines.

ULA’s newest heavy-lift launch vehicle — Vulcan — which employs Blue Origin’s engine, is slated to fly this May.

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, which aims to build a satellite constellation similar to SpaceX’s Starlink, will launch its first two satellites — Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2 — via the new Vulcan Centaur rocket.

Why It’s Important: Potential buyers for ULA include its two parent companies and its engine supplier, stated the report.

Over the past few years, SpaceX has emerged as the dominant player in terms of rocket launch frequency, surpassing ULA’s pace. By the end of 2022, SpaceX was launching as many rockets in a month as ULA launched annually, stated the report. SpaceX has launched more rockets in the last four years than the total number of launches conducted by ULA during its existence, the report added.

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