NEW YORK: Billionaire Elon Musk’s decision to settle a lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force means his closely held SpaceX will miss out on one key goal — getting a shot at 36 military rocket launches.
Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. agreed on Jan. 23 to drop a protest against the Air Force’s “block buy” contract awarded to a joint venture between Boeing Co. (BA:US) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT:US). The Air Force said it will expand the competitive opportunities for launch services and work with SpaceX to complete the certification it needs to put U.S. military satellites into orbit.
The settlement eases the ill will that had emerged since April as Musk campaigned at the Pentagon, before Congress and in the courts against what he called a monopoly. The market for military satellite launches has been estimated at $70 billion through 2030.
