WASHINGTON \u2014 Tory Bruno, former chief executive of United Launch Alliance, said he decided to join Blue Origin to work on important national security projects, including applications of the company\u2019s Blue Ring spacecraft.<\/p>\n
Bruno, the longtime chief executive of ULA, surprised the industry in December when he left the company<\/a>. Several days later, Blue Origin announced it had hired Bruno<\/a> as president of its new national security group.<\/p>\n Bruno, who frequently discussed his work on social media while at ULA, has said little publicly since joining Blue Origin. However, during a Feb. 19 webinar organized by the National Space Society, he outlined some of the reasons for his move.<\/p>\n He said he believed ULA was well positioned with the Vulcan rocket now operational, allowing him to focus on national security space issues.<\/p>\n \u201cULA has Vulcan in service,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a great and robust technology improvement roadmap in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat meant I could go back and do these other things I\u2019ve been worrying about almost the entire time I was there: the missile defense problem and dynamic space operations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He highlighted the importance of dynamic space operations, a term used in the national security space community to describe the ability of spacecraft to maneuver as needed to carry out missions or avoid threats.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel that it\u2019s an urgent need,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are behind the need today.\u201d<\/p>\n He cited growing Chinese capabilities to \u201cput threats into orbit\u201d as driving the need for dynamic space operations.<\/p>\n \u201cThis environment is getting worse and we\u2019ve got to catch up fast,\u201d he said. \u201cFor a long time, I\u2019ve been very concerned about that particular mission and wanted to do something about it. This is one of the reasons why I came to Blue Origin once I felt I was free to take a different path.\u201d<\/p>\n