Boeing Sues USAF Over For Delta IV Rocket Reimbursement

The U.S Air Force is been sued by Boeing for $385 million it says it is owed for Delta IV rocket launch services. Boeing and the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture with Lockheed Martin Corp, filed the lawsuit on June 14 "to preserve their rights to recover these costs," Boeing said in a statement. Jenna McMullin, a company spokeswoman, said that the lawsuit pertains to “legitimate, allowable costs of the Delta IV program that Boeing incurred prior to the creation of ULA in 2006". The suit harks back to the creation of the Defense Department's awkwardly named Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, reported Reuters News Agency. The EELV program was launched in the mid-1990s by the Pentagon in an effort to cut the cost of putting government satellites in orbit which resulted in two families of commercially owned and operated launch vehicles — Boeing's Delta IV and Lockheed Martin's Atlas V. According to the lawsuit, the Air Force had agreed to reimburse the costs at issue as part of efforts to win Boeing's continued participation in the EELV program after the Air Force opted to restructure it.