Aerojet’s $2 billion bid is rejected

Aerojet Vice President Julie Van Kleeck declined comment on reports that Aerojet has offered $2 billion to acquire United Launch Alliance (ULA), a 50-50 rocket launch venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.

The bid from Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc., a long-time supplier, was unsolicited and “not something that we seriously considered”, Boeing spokesman Todd Blecher said Wednesday in a telephone interview.

“ULA is a huge part of our strategic portfolio going forward along with our satellites and manned space business”.

Lockheed isn’t commenting on the matter, spokesman Dan Nelson said.

However, Boeing is showing no willingness to let go of ULA.

Chadwick said ULA’s focus remains on developing Vulcan, an Atlas 5 successor that would be powered by Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engine.

Air Force General John Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command, said the decision was up to Boeing and Lockheed. The business side of the house, that’s their business, Hyten told Reuters at the Air Force Association conference.

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, and Blue Origin, both of which are privately held, have self-funded their engine work, and say they are not necessarily looking for government funding. “There was no serious consideration of this and it’s not even in our expansive thought at this point in time”. “Ninety-nine consecutive launches without an incident”. Others are trying to obtain the record we have. “We think we have a real good competitive position and we’re committed to the longterm”.