Potential sale of ULA

Flyaway

Flyaway

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Looks like ULA could be up for sale this year. Blue Origin would seem the natural purchasers but I am not sure that would be such a good thing.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1630974915674243082
View: https://twitter.com/sciguyspace/status/1630974915674243082


NEWS: United Launch Alliance is likely to be sold this year. The potential sale has not been disclosed publicly, but three sources confirmed to Ars that potential buyers have been contacted about the opportunity.
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arstechnica.com

Sources say prominent US rocket-maker United Launch Alliance is up for sale

The potential sale of ULA comes with many questions for a buyer.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com

From the article:

In response to a request for comment to Boeing and Lockheed, the companies issued the following statement: "Consistent with our corporate practice, Boeing/Lockheed Martin doesn’t comment on potential market rumors or speculation about financial activities."
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It's bit strange that The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin would try to sell ULA...

Potential buyers:
SpaceX - no way, Musk build the biggest rocket ever, why he need ULA ?
Boeing Defense, Space and Security, a Subdivison of Boeing, it would make sense.
Northrop/Grumman - hell yeah, they would buy ULA
Blue Origin - so crazy it sound, they need ULA Vulcan, until vapourware New Glenn is ready

others:
General Dynamics - biggest defence contractor in USA.
Raytheon Technologies.

Angry Astronaut on matter
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXUtTTdgyaY
 
Of the two current owners LM are far more likely to buy out Boeing than the other way round.
 
Flyaway said:
Of the two current owners LM are far more likely to buy out Boeing than the other way round.
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it would be realistic, if ULA became part of Boeing Defense, Space and Security.
They responsible for defense and aerospace products and services, inside the Boeing company.
 
Michel Van said:
Flyaway said:
Of the two current owners LM are far more likely to buy out Boeing than the other way round.
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it would be realistic, if ULA became part of Boeing Defense, Space and Security.
They responsible for defense and aerospace products and services, inside the Boeing company.
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LM aren’t the ones who need the capital.
 
To me, there is really nothing strange at all about trying to sell off ULA in the face of SpaceX competition - am I missing something here?
 
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It is sad that ULA are being sold, I too can see Boeing Missiles and Space being a potential buyer.
 
martinbayer said:
To me, there is really nothing strange at all about trying to sell off ULA in the face of SpaceX competition- am I missing something here?
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if the rumor are true
Seems either Boeing or Lockheed Martin not want to finance ULA anymore
Since ULA was founded by B & LM as they put their Launcher together in One external Company.
Are there any indication in shift in Management at B & LM leaving the Aerospace or launch business ?
 
Michel Van said:
martinbayer said:
To me, there is really nothing strange at all about trying to sell off ULA in the face of SpaceX competition- am I missing something here?
Click to expand...
if the rumor are true
Seems either Boeing or Lockheed Martin not want to finance ULA anymore
Since ULA was founded by B & LM as they put their Launcher together in One external Company.
Are there any indication in shift in Management at B & LM leaving the Aerospace or launch business ?
Click to expand...
Vulcan was effectively financed by the US military rather than either of the parent companies.
 
Flyaway said:
Michel Van said:
martinbayer said:
To me, there is really nothing strange at all about trying to sell off ULA in the face of SpaceX competition- am I missing something here?
Click to expand...
if the rumor are true
Seems either Boeing or Lockheed Martin not want to finance ULA anymore
Since ULA was founded by B & LM as they put their Launcher together in One external Company.
Are there any indication in shift in Management at B & LM leaving the Aerospace or launch business ?
Click to expand...
Vulcan was effectively financed by the US military rather than either of the parent companies.
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So what are the chances of the US Military taking over ULA?
 
FighterJock said:
So what are the chances of the US Military taking over ULA?
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Nil. DoD definitely does not want to be in that business and probably is not legally allowed to compete with commercial providers. And remember that even though DoD supported the development of Vulcan, ULA still has a lot of commercial and non-military civil (e.g., NASA) launch business. Amazon's Kuiper satcom project is probably the single largest Vulcan customer right now, with 38 booked launches.
 
TomS said:
FighterJock said:
So what are the chances of the US Military taking over ULA?
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Nil. DoD definitely does not want to be in that business and probably is not legally allowed to compete with commercial providers. And remember that even though DoD supported the development of Vulcan, ULA still has a lot of commercial and non-military civil (e.g., NASA) launch business. Amazon's Kuiper satcom project is probably the single largest Vulcan customer right now, with 38 booked launches.
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So if the US Military does not want to be in the rocket business then how about NASA or falling that even SpaceX?
 
FighterJock said:
TomS said:
FighterJock said:
So what are the chances of the US Military taking over ULA?
Click to expand...

Nil. DoD definitely does not want to be in that business and probably is not legally allowed to compete with commercial providers. And remember that even though DoD supported the development of Vulcan, ULA still has a lot of commercial and non-military civil (e.g., NASA) launch business. Amazon's Kuiper satcom project is probably the single largest Vulcan customer right now, with 38 booked launches.
Click to expand...

So if the US Military does not want to be in the rocket business then how about NASA or falling that even SpaceX?
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NASA really wants out of the launcher business -- hence all the Commercial Cargo, Crew, and other initiatives. SLS is enforced and they would probably prefer not to be doing it if they could avoid it.

And why would SpaceX be allowed to buy their largest competitor? They'd just kill Vulcan and have an effective monopoly on US sovereign launch (SLS doesn't count).

I suspect Raytheon might be interested. They bought Orbital-ATK recently, and ULA seems like it might be a logical extension.
 
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Both Boieng and LMCO are cutting. Neither wanted to assume full ownership, so they both agreed to sell it, probably as a means to retain other segments of their teams that might otherwise have been reduced or terminated.

Would not be surprised to see another consortium make a bid. Likely elements who are already heavily into space efforts.

Out of my lane of expertise for sure.
 
TomS said:
FighterJock said:
TomS said:
FighterJock said:
So what are the chances of the US Military taking over ULA?
Click to expand...

Nil. DoD definitely does not want to be in that business and probably is not legally allowed to compete with commercial providers. And remember that even though DoD supported the development of Vulcan, ULA still has a lot of commercial and non-military civil (e.g., NASA) launch business. Amazon's Kuiper satcom project is probably the single largest Vulcan customer right now, with 38 booked launches.
Click to expand...

So if the US Military does not want to be in the rocket business then how about NASA or falling that even SpaceX?
Click to expand...

NASA really wants out of the launcher business -- hence all the Commercial Cargo, Crew, and other initiatives. SLS is enforced and they would probably prefer not to be doing it if they could avoid it.

And why would SpaceX be allowed to buy their largest competitor? They'd just kill Vulcan and have an effective monopoly on US sovereign launch (SLS doesn't count).

I suspect Raytheon might be interested. They bought Orbital-ATK recently, and ULA seems like it might be a logical extension.
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Forgot about Raytheon TomS, that would be a good idea I would think.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1669384383340347424
View: https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1669384383340347424


My conversations yielded some interesting fruit on deals, with sources talking about ULA continuing to be shopped around, $BALL putting subsidiary Ball Aerospace up for sale, and that “everything’s on the table” for Boeing’s space portfolio. $BA
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www.cnbc.com

Investing in Space: Bankers and insiders say M&A action is heating up

The space sector has seen a variety of mergers and acquisitions since the start of the year, but the deal-making is only heating up.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com
 
Truly sickening to apparently see the two supposedly preeminent aerospace conglomerates of the United States trying to divest themselves from launch vehicles, but not really that surprising given the existence of SpaceX...
 
Blue Origin would make sense, it would all of sudden provide them with one, if not three rockets (Vulcan, Atlas V, Delta IV). Jeff Bezos would have a golden opportunity of catching back with SpaceX after more than a decade lost.
 
Textron would be interesting
There are Big industrial conglomerate with large Aviation section.
like the Bell helicopter, Beechcraft and Cessna brands and Lycoming Engines.
ULA fit perfect in Textron, making it big player in US Aerospace industry.

This private equity fund, why do I have bad feeling about them ?
Sound they are those kind of fund that maximise there profit,
means ULA management is replace by finance "expert" who have zero knowledge on Aerospace business...
 
Archibald said:
Blue Origin would make sense, it would all of sudden provide them with one, if not three rockets (Vulcan, Atlas V, Delta IV). Jeff Bezos would have a golden opportunity of catching back with SpaceX after more than a decade lost.
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There is only one Delta IV left and the remaining Altas Vs have been spoken for (no more sales of them).
 
Michel Van said:
Textron would be interesting
There are Big industrial conglomerate with large Aviation section.
like the Bell helicopter, Beechcraft and Cessna brands and Lycoming Engines.
ULA fit perfect in Textron, making it big player in US Aerospace industry.

This private equity fund, why do I have bad feeling about them ?
Sound they are those kind of fund that maximise there profit,
means ULA management is replace by finance "expert" who have zero knowledge on Aerospace business...
Click to expand...
If Bezos desires then he will buy it. Looking forward to him pulling supply of engines to buy ULA at barrel bottom prices.
 
Textron should buy ULA for at least national security reasons to prevent Blue Organ from infecting ULA with their special quality of being able to spend 23+ years of never achieving anything significant in real space, which means putting payloads into orbit. BO has never seemed to be in a hurry to accomplish anything.

Textron is a veteran aerospace company that has put aircraft and helicopters into the air for years. They are a real business that reliably meets schedules and gets product out the door.

BO is years late on the engines they promised ULA and could cripple ULA's whole business. The Kuiper satellite people voted with their feet to SpaceX when it came to getting their constellation up. Who knows when or if they would have gotten there waiting on BO.
 
It seems Cerebus wouldn’t be a good purchaser judging by what they did to other companies like Chrysler & Remington. Mind you they also brought Stratolaunch and resurrected them.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1760435734023164411
View: https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1760435734023164411


"two sources told Ars that Blue Origin is nearing the purchase of ULA. The sources said they have not personally seen any signed agreements, but they expect the sale to be announced within a month or two."
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arstechnica.com

Blue Origin has emerged as the likely buyer for United Launch Alliance

Pairing of two launch companies could provide more robust competition to SpaceX.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
 

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