By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah James said on Wednesday she was disappointed that SpaceX was not certified to launch military and spy satellites by the end of December as hoped, but added she was confident the company would complete the process soon.
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.