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United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. U.S. government launch customers include both the Department of Defense and NASA, as well as other organizations. ULA provides launch services using three expendable launch systems – Delta II, Delta IV and Atlas V. The Atlas and Delta launch system families have been used for more than 50 years to carry a variety of payloads including weather, telecommunications and national security satellites, as well as deep space and interplanetary exploration missions in support of scientific research. ULA also provides launch services for non-government satellites: Lockheed Martin retains the rights to market Atlas commercially. Beginning in October 2014, ULA announced that they intended to undertake a substantial restructuring of the company, its products and processes, in the coming years in order to decrease launch costs. ULA is planning on building a new rocket that will be a successor to the Atlas V, using a new rocket engine on the first stage, with plans to release key design aspects before the end of 2014. In April 2015, they unveiled the new vehicle as the ''Vulcan'', with the first flight of a new first stage no earlier than 2019. == History == Boeing and Lockheed Martin announced their intent to form the United Launch Alliance joint venture on May 2, 2005.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=About ULA )〕 ULA merges the production of the government space launch services of the two companies into one central plant in Decatur, Alabama, and merged all engineering into another central plant in Littleton, Colorado. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Delta IV and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Atlas V are both launchers developed for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program intended to provide the United States government with competitively priced, assured access to space. ULA had a peak of six space launch facilities during 2005–2011. It announced a consolidation to five in 2008 with the intent to close one of its two Delta II pads,〔 and closed the pad at Cape Canaveral after its final Delta II launch in 2011.〔 〕 SpaceX challenged the United States antitrust law legality of the launch services monopoly on October 23, 2005. SpaceX is interested in competing for government launch contracts with the Falcon 9 rocket. On January 7, 2006 the Department of Defense gave preliminary approval to the United Launch Alliance. In September 2006, the Pentagon renewed their support for ULA, and announced their support to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC gave their anti-trust clearance on October 3, 2006. The joint venture began operations on December 1, 2006. Two years following company formation from units of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, ULA announced it would lay off 350 workers in early 2009, reducing from a company-wide employment of 4200 employees in 2008.〔 〕 In the event, ULA had approximately 3900 employees by August 2009〔 In late 2009, ULA announced that it intended to build a new headquarters campus for its operations south of Denver, in Centennial, Colorado, in order to move away from facility space it had shared with Lockheed Martin since 2006 when ULA was founded.〔 〕 In November 2010, United Launch Alliance was selected by NASA for consideration for potential contract awards for heavy lift launch vehicle system concepts, and propulsion technologies.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_10-292_Heavy_Lift.html )〕 It was announced in August 2014 that Michael Gass, ULA CEO since ULA was founded in 2006, would step down immediately and that he would be replaced by Tory Bruno, effective immediately.〔 〕 In September 2014, it was announced that the firm had won a contract from the United States Air Force for for additional work on military rocket launch services related to its existing contracts with the US Air Force.〔(Boeing-Lockheed venture wins $938 million in U.S. rocket launch deal ). Reuters, 17 September 2014〕 ULA announced in February 2015 that they are considering undertaking domestic production of the Russian RD-180 engine at the Decatur, Alabama rocket stage manufacturing facility. The US-manufactured engines would be used only for government civil (NASA) or commercial launches, and would not be used for US military launches.〔 〕 Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc submitted a $2 billion offer to purchase the joint venture on 8 September 2015. According to industry officials, the bid, if successful, would likely create a unified leadership for the company. On 16 September 2015, spokesperson Todd Blecher for joint owner Boeing commented that Aerojet Rocketdyne's bid was never "seriously entertained" and rejected the offer.〔(Boeing rejects Aerojet Rocketdyne bid for ULA launch venture ), accessed 2015-09-16.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United Launch Alliance」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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