Billionaire settles lawsuit against US Air Force over launch services

San Francisco

BILLIONAIRE Elon Musk's decision to settle a lawsuit against the US Air Force means his closely held SpaceX will miss out on one key goal - getting a shot at 36 military rocket launches - while making progress in the hunt for future contracts.

Mr Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp agreed on Jan 23 to drop a protest against the Air Force's "block buy" contract awarded to a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp. The Air Force said it will expand the competitive opportunities for launch services and work with SpaceX to complete the certification it needs to put US military satellites into orbit.