Air Force Faults Lockheed-Boeing Venture That’s a SpaceX Rival

The Lockheed Martin Corp.-Boeing Co. joint venture that competes with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch the most sensitive US national security satellites had subpar performance meeting its goals last year, according to the Air Force’s latest assessment of its best and worst-performing programs.

The joint venture, known as the United Launch Alliance, ranked among the worst. It “has performed unsatisfactorily” on its National Security Space Launch obligations, according to the Annual Report on the Highest and Lowest Performing Acquisition Programs mandated by Congress, which was obtained by Bloomberg News.

Against that backdrop, the Air Force is continually ...