U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee Jan. 27. Testifying with James was Frank Kendall, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

The U.S. Air Force is considering the early termination of United Launch Alliance’s $800-million-a-year launch capability contract after the company failed to bid on the service’s first competitive launch contract in a decade.

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Mike Gruss is the chief content and strategy officer at SpaceNews. From 2013 to 2016 he was a senior reporter at SpaceNews covering military space. Previously, he was editor in chief of Sightline Media Group and worked as a reporter and columnist for...