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James said the Air Force remained committed to completing the
certification process as quickly as possible in order to
reintroduce competition to a market now dominated by United
Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and
Boeing Co, the Pentagon's two largest suppliers.
The two companies merged their launch operations in December
2006, arguing that the move would help reduce costs, but
lawmakers and U.S. Air Force officials have grown increasingly
concerned about the high cost of launching satellites.
"It is in our interest to work hard to get this done," James
told an event hosted by the Atlantic Council, a nonprofit think
tank. "We think that competition in the space launch business is
going to drive down costs."
James said it was not a question of "if," but "when" the
privately held company Space Exploration Technologies would be
certified to compete to launch U.S. military satellites under
the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.
The Air Force last week said it expected to complete the SpaceX
certification by mid-2015 at the latest.
James said Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves, commander of Air
Force Space and Missile Systems Center, had devoted "money and
people and personal focus to get this done as quickly as
possible."
She said she called for an independent panel to review the
certification process to benefit from "a fresh set of eyes and
ears" after 18 months of ongoing efforts.
She said she would ask the group to examine how NASA and the
commercial sector certified launch providers with an eye to
finding ways to streamline the Air Force process.
The Air Force has not yet identified the members of the panel,
which is due to complete its work by mid-year.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chris Reese)
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