Ledyard King

FLORIDA TODAY

WASHINGTON – When SpaceX sued the Air Force this spring, claiming the Pentagon was illegally blocking competition for its military satellite launch business, the head of the Air Force Space Command scolded the California-based aerospace company.

"Generally, the person you're going to do business with, you don't sue them," Air Force Gen. William Shelton was quoted as saying at a Colorado space symposium in May.

Reprimanded

On Wednesday, GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona reprimanded Shelton for those comments during a hearing examining access to space from U.S soil.

"If some company or corporation thinks they are not being fairly treated, you don't think that they should be able to sue? I mean that's not our system of government, Gen. Shelton," McCain told the general as he sat at a table with several other witnesses.

"It shows a real bias against the ability of any company in America to do what they think is best."

Shelton, speaking at a hearing convened by subcommittees of the Armed Services Committee and the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said he stood by his comments.

"We are working very hard to get (SpaceX) certified and spending a lot of money and (dedicating) a lot of people," he told McCain.

Since 2006, each of the roughly 70 space launches for the Air Force has been handled by one entity: United Launch Alliance. ULA was formed as a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

Over that period, the money Congress has approved for launching national security hardware into space jumped from $613 million a year to $1.63 billion in fiscal 2014. The Pentagon estimates it will cost another $70 billion through 2030.

Under pressure from Congress, the Air Force has started opening up competition to other companies, including SpaceX, which says it can perform launches at a fraction of ULA's cost.

The company's suit asks the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which hears disputes on government contracts, to freeze a no-bid Air Force contract that would pay ULA to provide as many as 36 rocket booster cores. The hardware is needed to launch national security satellites.

McCain has sharply criticized the Air Force for not moving faster to certify new companies for the work. Shelton's comments, he told the general, suggested an institutional resistance to expanding the field of competition.

Questions

McCain asked the general why he hadn't been similarly critical of a $400 million lawsuit filed by a ULA subsidiary over deferred costs for launch services.

Shelton responded that was different because it involved "a technical payment situation."

"Oh, I see. So it's OK if it's over a technical payment situation but not the other," McCain shot back. "General Shelton, you have really diminished your stature with this committee when you decide whether people or organizations or companies should be able to sue or not, and make comments about them."

A spokeswoman for SpaceX declined comment on the exchange, citing pending litigation.

Contact Ledyard King at lking@gannett.com; Twitter; @ledgeking