United Launch Alliance\u2019s leader for the last 12 years has stepped down.<\/p>\n
ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno has resigned as of Monday to \u201cpursue another opportunity,\u201d according to a shared statement from the board chairs from Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which share a 50% ownership of the rocket company.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are grateful for Tory\u2019s service to ULA and the country, and we thank him for his leadership,\u201d reads the statement from ULA Lockheed Martin Board Chair Robert Lightfoot and ULA Boeing Board Chair Kay Sears.<\/p>\n
Taking his place in an interim role will be John Elbon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the greatest confidence in John to continue strengthening ULA\u2019s momentum while the board proceeds with finding the next leader of ULA,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n
Bruno came into the role in 2014 from Lockheed Martin, where he had worked as an engineer before moving into corporate leadership roles. He took the ULA job during a period where it saw increased competition from SpaceX and had to shepherd ULA through rounds of layoffs.<\/p>\n
As SpaceX continued to see success and carve into what had been ULA\u2019s lucrative national security mission manifest, Bruno was able to steer ULA through a long-delayed production campaign for its new Vulcan rocket, which saw its first launch in 2024 as the replacement for its dwindling supply of Atlas V rockets and already-retired Delta IV Heavy<\/a> rockets.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you for the opportunity to lead this amazing team,\u201d Bruno posted to X after the announcement. \u201cThey have put ULA in a great position to do important things for our customers and nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Bruno was at the helm when Amazon announced what some considered a lifeline to the company with a guaranteed launch future. ULA would be tapped to be the main provider of dozens of launches through the end of the decade to support what is now referred to as the Amazon LEO, but was previously dubbed the Project Kuiper constellation of satellites.<\/p>\n ULA has flown its first four Amazon missions<\/a> this year, and has another 42 launches lined up to help grow the constellation to its eventual total of more than 3,200 satellites in Amazon\u2019s efforts to compete with SpaceX\u2019s Starlink.<\/p>\n And while ULA\u2019s Vulcan delays have meant a backlog of more than 20 national security missions, it\u2019s still winning new contracts under the Department of Defense\u2019s new rounds<\/a> of mission orders. Vulcan was only certified for national security missions this past spring, and flew its first mission<\/a>, USSF-106, in August, nearly three years behind schedule.<\/p>\n