House Committee Cuts EELV, Demands Changes

摘要

A key U.S. congressional spending panel reduced funding for the Pentagon's primary space launch vehicle program, and indicated that the military must make changes in the way it runs the program. The House Appropriations Committee reduced the U.S. Air Force's $936.5 million budget request for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program by $244 million in its version of the 2006 Defense Appropriations Act, which the committee approved June 13. The EELV program includes the Atlas 5 rockets built by Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md., and the Delta 4 rockets built by Boeing Co. of Chicago. The Pentagon had awarded development contracts to both companies in the 1990s under the expectation that launch costs would be offset by a robust commercial launch market that did not materialize.