The tycoon Elon Musk, SpaceX owner in: Space Exploration Technologies Musk is not able to match the history of a decade of perfect launches of ULA
After a rocket from United Launch Alliance was launched and formed a fiery arc in California last week, Tory Bruno greeted everyone in the control room. And then he went home.
This is his quiet routine to celebrate each spaceflight the largest US rocket company after 106 missions without incident.
"I take a good dose of malt whiskey and then followed for the next release," said Bruno, CEO of the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, in an interview.
Bruno ritual may be shaken by billionaire Elon Musk. With the audacious plan to colonize Mars, SpaceX Musk is shaking up the industry before serene, with low-cost rocket flights and reusable boosters.
The company also broke the hegemony of ULA in relation to the US defense missions.
"Bruno is in the unique position of having a perfect performance history and be under pressure from all sides," said Loren Thompson, defense analyst at the Lexington Institute.
"His company literally never had a failure in a release, but still the government, its competitors and even the co-owners are applying continuous pressure for it to change the company to deliver better results."
'Monasticism warrior'
The challenges to reformulate one unaccustomed company to price competition does not intimidate Bruno, 54, a mechanical engineer who wrote business management books based on the Knights Templar of the medieval era, exploring themes such as the "warrior monasticism."
Since leaving Lockheed and joined the ULA in 2014, Bruno decreased the number of executives by a third, cut costs with suppliers by 40 percent and reshaped production. He is developing a rocket to replace the famous but expensive Delta, which dates from the era of Sputnik. The goal: to compete with newcomers like SpaceX in a market in which low costs now triumph over an unblemished record.
"We are making great progress. In fact we are advanced in relation to our plans, "said Bruno by telephone.
rocket explosion
A Space Exploration Technologies Musk is not able to match the history of a decade of perfect launches of ULA. Even so, the explosion of a rocket Falcon 9 SpaceX, minutes after the start of the flight, in June, not demand decreased: the company has a list of orders of 70 scheduled releases valued at more than $ 10 billion, according to your website.
After SpaceX won certification from the US Air Force to submit a proposal for national security missions, ULA not participated in the first competition for launches last year. A former executive of the joint venture caused a stir with its critical evaluation of the bid and Arizona senator John McCain, who has sought to limit imports of Russian-made engines that drive the Atlas V rocket of the alliance.
The price account
The alliance chose not to tender because the participants were judged by the price, not for its history. Another clause focused on disclosure of costs. The criterion was not included in previous contracts and "puts us at a competitive disadvantage," said Bruno.
The ULA and SpaceX do not disclose their financial details. Under the command of Bruno, the ULA halved the time required to build and launch the Atlas V. Along with renegotiated supplier contracts, changes reduced launch costs by about a third compared to a US $ 184 base millions. Bruno plans to cut these costs to less than US $ 100 million by 2019.
The value is still well above the base price of US $ 61 million listed on the website of SpaceX for a launch. Musk is further increasing the pressure for pricing by focusing on reducing operating costs, according to estimates by AlixPartners are already about 50 percent smaller than those of its rivals.
The United Launch Alliance is preparing a new rocket, known as Vulcan to continue in the game. The first flight is scheduled for 2019.
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