Talk about strange bedfellows. Former cold war contractors Lockheed and Khrunichev Enterprise are joining forces to provide a commercial satellite-launching service that would use a low-cost Russian rocket. The joint venture will team Khrunichev, a major Russian defense company, with the satellite expertise and marketing contacts of Lockheed's Missiles & Space unit.
The venture will also shake up the launch business, an industry that until now has been dominated in the West by Europe's Arianespace, McDonnell Douglas, and General Dynamics.
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