WASHINGTON — When Tory Bruno took over as CEO of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) in August, analysts predicted a change in how the launch company did business. But maybe not at this level.

Last week, Bruno began using his personal Twitter account to reply to questions from journalists. While other industry leaders maintain Twitter accounts, they are generally used to push press releases or quick soundbites; it is pretty rare to see one that is willing to engage with reporters in an open forum — and with critics as well.

Below is a collection of some of Bruno's remarks from Friday and Saturday. First, I asked Bruno to react to the news that competitor SpaceX was dropping a lawsuit against the US Air Force over a decision to award ULA a block-buy of launch contracts. The official line from ULA was to repeat the service's statement, but Bruno went a little further:

@AaronMehta Wish I could. Judged sealed the details. Outcome was just and good for the Nation — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 24, 2015

@AaronMehta The judge sealed it permanently. Can say that the outcome was just and the Right thing for the Nation — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 24, 2015

Bruno was then tweeted by @TrampolinRocket, a space-enthusiast account that has been critical of ULA in the past.

.@torybruno says ULA block buy win just & right. Tory, I don't think ULA has convincingly articulated its argument why. @AaronMehta — Trampoline Rocket (@TrampolinRocket) January 24, 2015

That, in turn, led to a series of tweets from the ULA head defending the block-buy agreement.

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@TrampolinRocket @AaronMehta Challenge Accepted. I will explain the Block buy in 6 tweets (or so) — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 24, 2015

@TrampolinRocket @AaronMehta 1) Old Way: Buy 1 launch at a time, Inefficient, Expensive, Satellite delays, slot lost. Bumps, more cost — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 24, 2015

@TrampolinRocket @AaronMehta 2) New Way: Buy several launches at once. Efficient batch build, Qty discounts at suppliers. Slot Manifesting — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 24, 2015

@TrampolinRocket @AaronMehta Slot Manifesting: "Rocket Rubik's Cube" EVERY bird has a ride earlier, and later that works. Slot swapping — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 24, 2015

@TrampolinRocket @AaronMehta 4) Rocket Rubiks is hard. We fly Leo to Pluto. At least 12 different rocket configurations to arrange into 3s — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 24, 2015

@TrampolinRocket @AaronMehta 5) Block buy saved the Gov >30% of TOTAL costs. $4.4B less than the Old Way — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 24, 2015

@TrampolinRocket @AaronMehta 6) Why BB to ULA? Only certified provider. And, 2/3 of missions STILL beyond the capability of other rockets — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 24, 2015

@TrampolinRocket @AaronMehta 7) Future competition started. Bidding started last year. Next phase arranged within others' rockets' ability — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) January 24, 2015

It's not exactly Dmitry Rogozin level stuff — and frankly, this blog can only hope those two begin interactions on Twitter — but it's still interesting to see Bruno take to Twitter and go direct with his message, especially considering the success SpaceX's Elon Musk has had doing the same.

One of the criticisms in the industry about Bruno's predecessor, Michael Gass, has been that he was not proactive enough in getting ULA's message out. It seems that Bruno is looking at using his options to avoid going the same route.