Posted: Mon, May 2, 2005, 11:32 PM ET (0332 GMT)
In a surprise move, Boeing and Lockheed Martin announced late Monday that the two companies planned to form a joint venture to build and launch rockets for the US government. The United Launch Alliance will be a 50-50 partnership between the two companies that covers the production, engineers, test, and launch operations of Atlas and Delta rockets for NASA and the US military. The venture will be headquartered at Lockheed's Denver facilities, with most manufacturing to be consolidated at Boeing's Decatur, Alabama factory. An unspecified number of employees in the two companies will be laid off as a result. The alliance does not include commercial launches, nor the development of EELV-derived vehicles that may be used by NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. The two companies had been bitter rivals in recent years, in part because of allegations that Boeing employees accessed confidential Lockheed Martin documentation during the EELV bidding process in the late 1990s. Both companies agreed to dismiss claims against one another related to that dispute as one of the terms of the joint venture.

Related Links:

•  Wall Street Journal article (subscription required)
•  Reuters article
•  AP article
•  Space News article (subscription required)
•  Boeing press release