Blue Origin hires United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno to head its national security group

Eleven years after United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno partnered with Blue Origin to create a new rocket engine, he’s joining Jeff Bezos’ space venture as the president of Blue Origin’s newly created National Security Group.

The move could signal a major shift in the commercial space race as Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin revs up its competition with SpaceX. Bezos welcomed Bruno to his company on social media, and Bruno told Bezos that “we are going to do important work together.”

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman added his congratulations via the X social-media platform.

In Friday’s announcement of the change, Blue Origin said Bruno would report to CEO Dave Limp. “We share a deep belief in supporting our nation with the best technology we can build,” Limp said in a post on X. “Tory brings unmatched experience, and I’m confident he’ll accelerate our ability to deliver on that mission.”

Bruno, 64, led ULA for 11 years following a 30-year career at Lockheed Martin. Not long after taking the reins at ULA in 2014, Bruno sat beside Bezos to announce a close collaboration on the development of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine, which is used on ULA’s Vulcan rocket as well as Blue Origin’s orbital-class New Glenn rocket.

Since then, SpaceX has displaced United Launch Alliance as America’s dominant launch company. In 2014, ULA executed 14 launches while SpaceX executed six. So far this year, SpaceX has registered 165 launches, while ULA has registered six.

Bruno is expected to lead Blue Origin’s efforts to win more contracts for national security launches using the New Glenn rocket. In 2024, Blue Origin joined ULA and SpaceX on the list of approved providers for such launches, but New Glenn has flown only twice. Blue Origin needs to execute two more successful launches to complete the Space Systems Command’s certification process.

United Launch Alliance is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Last year, there were rumors that ULA was the subject of acquisition talks, perhaps involving Blue Origin or Sierra Space, but so far those rumors haven’t panned out.

Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin’s Robert Lightfoot and Boeing’s Kay Sears announced that Bruno was leaving ULA “to pursue another opportunity” — and named John Elbon as the joint venture’s interim CEO. Elbon previously served as ULA’s chief operating officer. He joined ULA in 2018 after a 35-year career at Boeing.