Pentagon Launch Program Needs More Scrutiny, Less Money

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) just released a report on the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program that is problematic for taxpayers and space launches.  According to a fact sheet by Vandenberg Air Force Base, “EELV is designed to improve our nation’s access to space by making space launch vehicles more affordable and reliable.”  Not so fast.  The EELV program budgets have quadrupled since the Pentagon allowed Boeing and Lockheed to merge their launch business into a single monopoly provider, the United Launch Alliance, in 2006.   And now ULA  is pushing the Pentagon to write the company a $15 billion check for a five-year, sole source deal that will, according to GAO, commit DOD to more rockets than it needs at a higher price than it needs to pay.

The GAO report is a window into what has gone wrong with the program.  “Program officials, recent launch studies, and the prime EELV contractor all cite a diminishing launch industrial base as a risk to the mission success of the program, but DOD analysis supporting this condition is minimal.”  The report also stated that, “The 2010 Launch Broad Area Review—which DOD officials cite as support for the proposed block buy approach—also relied, in part, on the 2009-2010 ULA data and analysis to conclude that the launch industrial base needs stability.  Although the ULA survey of its supplier base covered the appropriate topic areas for such a review—for example, financial stability and production operations—our analysis determined the survey was neither designed nor administered in a manner consistent with sound survey methodology practices, and in some cases, survey results presented to DOD could not be linked back to the survey questions.”

If DOD isn’t careful they may end up in the same situation as NASA, which didn’t plan for life after the space shuttle and is now stuck with relying on the Russians for a ride to the International Space Station.  Allowing the ULA merger muddied the competitive waters, leaving DOD with single, monopoly launch provider.

Stabilizing the industrial base should not be the mission of any agency, especially the Department of Defense.  America has the world’s best free market enterprise system and DoD and NASA should leverage it to ensure a solid future for taxpayers and space launches.