TIM FURNISS / LONDON
US manufacturer reshuffles businesses and admits commercial fears over court case
Boeing may scrap its Delta IV booster if it fails to return a profit and has announced a major realignment of its satellite and launch businesses.
The US manufacturer last month booked a $1.1 billion charge against its launcher and satellite businesses and withdrew the Delta IV from the commercial market for at least five years (Flight International, 22-28 July). The company's legal battle over confidential data provided by a former Lockheed Martin employee, used in its bid for US Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contracts, has resulted in the USAF recommending that Boeing lose six of its original 21 Delta IV EELV flights booked in 1998, reduced to 19 in 2000. One Delta IV EELV mission has already been launched and the booster has also flown one commercial mission.
The six lost launches will go to the rival Lockheed Martin Atlas V, which originally only picked up nine EELV launches, reduced to seven in 2000. No Atlas V EELV launch has been made yet, although there have been three commercial missions.
A joint investigation by the US Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations has resulted in a criminal indictment against two former Boeing EELV programme managers. The pair have been charged with conspiracy to conceal and possess trade secrets by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles.
The US Air Force is preparing to award a contract for another 20 launches and Boeing fears most will go to the Atlas V. Earlier this year, the USAF said it might drop one of the two EELV contractors in 2004 as a cost-cutting measure. The EELV contracts helped the Delta IV and Atlas V to enter the commercial market.
In a strategic realignment announced last week, Boeing Satellite Systems will be consolidated into Space and Intelligence Systems to "weather the downturn in the commercial satellite market". The Expendable Launch Systems unit will be aligned with Air Force Systems.
Rocketdyne Power and Propulsion, supplier of the Space Shuttle main engines and power generation systems for the International Space Station, will become part of NASA Systems.
Source: Flight International
