Joint Lockheed-Boeing rocket venture called for employees of the new United Launch Alliance to create a new culture of cooperation. When their company opened for business, United Launch Alliance employees watched as a big jar was hauled out and displayed at meetings. It would symbolize how bitter rivals Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. planned to bury the hatchet and kick off their unprecedented, 50-50 rocket venture. Dubbed ULA, the joint venture began business in December 2006 with its headquarters here.
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In 2003, the Air Force suspended Boeing from launching rockets for 20 months after Boeing employees illegally obtained more than 25,000 pages of sensitive documents belonging to Lockheed.
Air Force officials charged that the trade secrets allowed Boeing to win the bulk of the launches awarded in a $1.9 billion government rocket- launch competition between the two companies in 1998.
