ULA Exec Resigns After Controversial Statements

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ULA Exec Resigns After Controversial Statements; McCain Calls For Investigation

 

This article, originally published at 10:49 a.m. ET on March 17, has been updated to reflect a ULA statement that Brett Tobey has resigned.

 

WASHINGTON — A top United Launch Alliance executive resigned Wednesday after reports emerged that he had accused Sen. John McCain of working with their competition to ban the use of a Russian rocket engine for military space launches.

 

ULA Engineering Vice President Brett Tobey this week accused the Senate Armed Services chairman of teaming up with SpaceX founder Elon Musk to ban the RD-180 rocket engine, which powers ULA’s Atlas V launch vehicles. SpaceX is ULA's main competition for Pentagon business, as the company's Falcon 9 rocket won certification last year to compete for military space launches.

 

“This guy right here, John McCain, who basically doesn’t like us; he’s like this with Elon Musk,” Tobey said during a March 15 presentation at the University of Colorado-Boulder, according to audio posted by Space News. “So Elon Musk says, 'Why don’t you guys go, why don’t you go after United Launch Alliance and see if you can get that engine to be outlawed?'”

 

ULA and the Pentagon are working together to figure out a way to “silence McCain,” Tobey suggested in his remarks. The company, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is even considering completely transitioning from Atlas V to the much more expensive Delta IV for satellite launch.

 

“The problem is that carries a $1 billion or $2 billion budget, and is it worth that billion or two dollars of taxpayer money, just to silence John McCain, who’s the squeaky wheel in all this?” Tobey said. “It really is a one-man band out there that’s driving forward. Everyone wants to get off of the RD-180 engine, but they want to do it in a more logical and organized way that basically doesn’t put those national assets at risk.”

 

ULA CEO Tory Bruno denounced Tobey’s “ill-advised” comments on Twitter on March 16 and in a March 17 statement to Defense News. ULA welcomes competition, he said.

 

“The views, positions and inaccurate statements Mr. Tobey presented at his recent speaking engagement were not aligned with the direction of the company, my views, nor the views I expect from ULA leaders,” Bruno said, according to the statement. “Mr. Tobey resigned his position at ULA effective immediately.”

 

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Poor guy, one could say that the anti-Russian sanctions cost him his job.

[Unobscured Vision]

There was way more to his resignation than just those comments. This guy essentially praised SpaceX, gave an honest take on the current status of the two possible engines being developed for Vulcan, and his bosses at ULA didn't like it. Now there's more "shenanigans" going on ... uh huh.

 

This is a case of "an honest appraisal" and then a "dishonest slam-fest".

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Original thread with more juicy details