In what could be the most shocking news of 2025, Tory Bruno, long-time CEO of United Launch Alliance, resigned and joined competitor Blue Origin last month. Bruno will now head up Blue Origin’s National Security Group, a specialty of ULA that Bruno helped hone during his leadership.
During the holidays, ULA and Blue Origin released what could be considered some of the biggest news of 2025. On December 22nd, ULA announced the departure of long-time CEO, Tory Bruno, for a new venture.
The industry was overall shocked at the departure, as no rumors about a change in the top position at ULA were ever reported. The wonder ended four days later when Blue Origin announced that Bruno would be joining the company as President of its new National Security Group.
“We are going to bring important, innovative, and urgently needed capabilities to our nation. Can’t wait to get started,” Bruno shared about his new position.
“We share a deep belief in supporting our nation with the best technology we can build,” Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin, said on social media after the announcement.
ULA named John Elbon as interim CEO. Elbon previously served as program manager of ULA’s commercial programs.
The pick is a big one for Blue Origin and could be seen as a huge hit for ULA. Bruno led ULA for over a decade and saw the company’s transition from de facto monopoly to commercial competitor with SpaceX for national security missions. He oversaw the development and first launches of ULA’s Vulcan rocket, which moved away from foreign-produced components, like its Russian RD-180 engines.
However, over the years, SpaceX has been able to chip away at ULA’s stranglehold on the commercial launch provider industry. Getting its foot in the door with National Security Space Launch contracts and eventually nearly splitting the launches evenly. SpaceX has also taken away most of ULA’s potential commercial customers with its lower cost per kilogram.
With that said, Bruno was able to continue to lead ULA as one of the most trusted and respected legacy aerospace firms, being entrusted with the most important and sensitive payloads from both the Space Force and NASA.
Biggest play by Blue Origin yet – Space Explored’s Take
With all the issues ULA may have had with SpaceX under Bruno’s reign, what remained the same was ULA’s expertise in national security missions. Bruno has shared his love for being able to support the national security needs of the United States on his podcast over the last year.
With the need to lead an entire space company gone and with him being able to focus on what he’s best at, the Bruno and Blue Origin pairing could spark trouble for any other company looking to compete against them for future contracts.
What Blue Origin has up its sleeves for its National Security Group is unknown, but I would expect the company to push hard to gain Golden Dome contracts and also continue to grow its stake in National Security Space Launch missions in future contracts.
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