RUAG to begin composites production at ULA’s factory

United Launch Alliance (ULA, Centennial, CO, US) and RUAG (Zurich, Switzerland) announced a new strategic partnership in which RUAG will establish a U.S. composites production capability located within ULA’s Decatur, AL factory.

RUAG already delivers carbon fiber structures for ULA’s Atlas launchers – the payload fairing for the larger Atlas V-500 launcher as well as the interstage adapter for the smaller Atlas V-400. RUAG currently produces these structures in Switzerland at its Zurich and Emmen locations. Beginning in mid-2017, the structures are to be produced in Decatur, where RUAG will also manufacture other carbon fiber structures for the new Vulcan launcher. RUAG will continue to manufacture the payload fairings for the European Ariane and Vega rockets in Switzerland. RUAG’s presence in Decatur will create approximately 100 local jobs by 2019.

“We’re proud that ULA has selected RUAG as a strategic partner. ULA and RUAG have been working together successfully in the Atlas program for more than a decade. Now we can build on this collaboration with the new Vulcan launcher and the new production site in the U.S.,” said Peter Guggenbach, CEO of RUAG Space.

“We’re pleased with this new partnership that leverages so many mutually beneficial business objectives, while substantially lowering costs,” says Tory Bruno, ULA’s president and CEO. “As ULA looks to the future, we will transform the future of space launch by making space more affordable and accessible, while continuing to deliver on ULA’s unparalleled reliability and precision.”

ULA is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.