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On August 16, the United Launch Alliance (ULA), a company formed by Lockheed Martin andBoeingJointly establishedRocket launchHowever, as time goes by, ULA is facing more and more challenges, including declining profitability, keyengineerand the gradual erosion of market share by competitors such as SpaceX.

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For more than a decade, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) has long held a monopoly on the U.S. military's rocket launch market. Whenever the Department of Defense needs to launch a satellite into space, this joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin is the only choice.

However, in recent years, ElonMuskElon Musk's SpaceX, with its strong financial resources and innovative capabilities, has successfully seized 40% of the Department of Defense's contract share from ULA. At the same time, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is also ready to go, saying that once its New Glenn rocket is certified, it is expected to grab more market share.

According to people familiar with the matter, ULA's financial situation is facing severe challenges, with its budget nearly exhausted and revenue falling short of expectations, due to delays in customer launch plans. This predicament has prompted Boeing andLockheed MartinStill, a ULA spokesman stressed that the company was profitable this year but missed its revenue target.

These issues significantly impacted ULA’s progress as it prepared to launch the latest Department of Defense mission, causing it to fall behind schedule. According to people familiar with the matter, due to the quality issues, ULA had to increase manpower and urgently dispatched a temporary crew from Cape Canaveral, 800 kilometers away, to complete the repair work before the July 30 launch date. With the efforts of these people day and night, the repairs were finally completed in time to help complete the 100th launch mission.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that ULA has transferred personnel from out of state for unexpected maintenance. Similar situations have occurred from time to time during the development of new rockets. A company document shows that workers from Decatur, Alabama were sent to Florida to deal with "significant" production problems that occurred before the first launch of the Vulcan rocket. People familiar with the matter emphasized that the difficulty of such maintenance work put great pressure on the launch operation engineers in Florida.

A ULA spokesperson pointed out that it is normal to send experienced senior employees to work across locations, such as sending technicians to replace leaking actuators in the Vulcan rocket project. However, facing the record-breaking launch plan next year, ULA is facing a severe challenge of losing key talents, especially from strong rivals such as Blue Origin and SpaceX.

Nearly half of the launch operations engineers at ULA’s Florida launch site have left so far this year, according to people familiar with the matter. This position is critical to the testing, assembly and preparation of rockets and their payloads. The talent shortage has affected preparations for future missions.

As ULA struggles to maintain its position as the U.S. military's preferred rocket launch service provider, the employee departures have undoubtedly exacerbated its difficulties. The U.S. government has expressed dissatisfaction with ULA's progress and has imposed fines for delays. ULA's performance is directly related to the national security interests of the Department of Defense. If it fails to effectively respond to challenges, its position may be lost.

ULA CEO Tory Bruno acknowledged that there are still challenges ahead. He said: "This challenge can be seen as an internal motivation (or pressure) that can inspire the team's spirit of excellence." He firmly believes that ULA is fully prepared to meet these challenges and "can support the intensive launch rhythm even with a tight staff."

ULA declined to disclose the exact makeup of its workforce, but said it has about 600 employees at its launch sites and more than 2,700 total employees, including 1,200 rocket scientists and 100 new launch support personnel.

Bruno revealed that ULA's goal is to carry out 20 launches next year. To support this ambitious plan, the company is stockpiling rockets and parts in dedicated warehouses. He explained: "There are more than 30 solid rocket motors stacked in a warehouse in Florida, with a huge TNT equivalent, which is unprecedented, but we have strict safety measures to ensure that nothing goes wrong."

Faced with financial pressure, Bruno pointed out that ULA needs to maintain a high frequency of launch activities to maintain cash flow. Bruno said that unlike its billionaire-backed competitors, ULA does not rely on cash injections from external investors.

Boeing's enthusiasm for investing in the space sector has been tempered by safety challenges in its core jet business, while Lockheed Martin's earnings from its stake in ULA have also declined year on year. Nevertheless, the two companies reaffirmed their commitment to rocket development and investment in new facilities in a joint statement, saying they would provide technical expertise and commercial knowledge support.

People familiar with the matter said that ULA employees, especially engineers, are being attracted by the high salaries offered by competitors, Bezos and Musk's grand space vision, and Amazon's satellite internet project. Although Bruno did not disclose the exact turnover rate, he emphasized that ULA's employee turnover rate remained in the single digits, "significantly lower than the industry average."

Last week, the competition between SpaceX and ULA escalated further on Musk's social media platform, when Bruno directly questioned the promotional photos of SpaceX's new Raptor V3 engine, accusing it of releasing a "partially assembled" engine and "exaggerating" the design.

SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell quickly fired back, sharing a photo of a Raptor engine belching flames on a test stand and jokingly responding: "That's pretty impressive performance for a 'partially assembled' engine."

In terms of talent recruitment, both Blue Origin and SpaceX have shown strong momentum, each with dozens of engineering vacancies in different business units. In contrast, ULA has only 12 open positions, 4 of which are focused on launch operations engineering.

“There are certain constraints on the company that undermine its ability to meet the competitive challenge of SpaceX,” said George Sowers, former chief scientist at ULA. “There are clearly drawbacks to this ownership model.”

Despite the challenges, ULA has a significant advantage: its conventional rocket missions have a 100% success rate. By comparison, SpaceX's Falcon rocket series has nearly 400 launches, and suffered a high-profile failure last month. As for Blue Origin, it has yet to launch into orbit.

Bruno declared that ULA achieved a historic breakthrough this year by sending astronauts into orbit for the first time, and the 100th flight of the Atlas 5 rocket was a "warm, direct and perfect" farewell to this iconic American rocket.

Bruno's focus is now on getting the Vulcan rocket officially certified by the Department of Defense, and ULA has set a September launch target. Once the mission is successful and certified, the company will be expected to win a multi-billion dollar "Phase III" contract from the Department of Defense.

Speaking of future plans, Bruno said he is steadily advancing the production plan, aiming to complete the manufacturing of all ULA's ordered Atlas rockets for 2025 by the end of the year. The boosters are currently stacked in a large factory in Florida.

Bruno added: "I have all the necessary tools and facilities. For me, it is not critical whether the rocket is ready or not. As long as the payload is in place, I can immediately carry out the launch mission." (Xiaoxiao)