LOS ANGELES (CN) - Boeing sued two Russian and Ukrainian aerospace companies, claiming they owe it $355 million for backing out of a commercial satellite deal.
Boeing and Boeing Commercial Space Company (BCSC) sued Russia's Energia and Ukraine's KB Yuzhnoye, in Federal Court.
Boeing claims that Norwegian company (nonparty) Kvaerner, along with Energia and Yuzhnoye, promised to help it fund a commercial satellite company in Long Beach, to be called Sea Launch.
"The business of Sea Launch is to launch commercial satellites into space from a floating modified oil drilling platform anchored in the Pacific Ocean," according to the 27-page complaint, which contains 523 pages of attachments.
The complaint continues: "When Sea Launch was founded in 1995, the Sea Launch partners, including Yuzhnoye and Energia, chose to establish Sea Launch's home port in Long Beach, California ('the home port'). The Sea Launch partners, including Yuzhnoye and Energia, specifically chose Long Beach because of its port facilities, its proximity to the major commercial satellite manufacturers in California and to certain Boeing facilities located in California, and its proximity to the location in the Pacific Ocean from which Sea Launch completes its launch missions.
"Sea Launch's home port facilities are located on a 16-acre site in the Port of Long Beach previously used by the United States Navy. The Sea Launch partners decided to convert this site into a headquarters for Sea Launch, including a state-of-the-art payload processing facility and storage facilities for flight hardware (including for Yuzhnoye's Zenit-2S rockets and Energia's Block DM-SL rockets), among other structures.
"Sea Launch's Long Beach location also serves as home port for the two seagoing vessels that Sea Launch uses to carry out its marine-based launch operations, including the assembly and command ship named the 'Sea Launch Commander' (the 'ACS') and the self-propelled, semi-submersible launch platform named the 'Odyssey' (the 'launch platform').
"Sea Launch, with the active participation of each of the defendants, provides fully integrated launch services out of its home port in Long Beach. After a satellite is received at home port, it is fueled and encapsulated in the payload processing facility. The encapsulated satellite is then transferred to the ACS while docked at the home port, for integration with the rocket components that form the integrated launch vehicle ('ILV'). While still at the home port, the ILV is transferred to the launch platform, where it is stored in an environmentally controlled hanger during the transit to the launch site. Both the ACS and the launch platform then sail from the home port to the launch site at the Pacific Ocean equator.
"Sea Launch completed its first mission in 1999. Since then, Sea Launch has launched or attempted to launch more than 30 satellites; its last attempt to launch took place on January 31, 2013. Sea Launch's location in Long Beach, and the defendants' active participation in the litany of business activities taking place in Long Beach, are all crucial to providing this service." (Parentheses in complaint.)
Boeing claims that it took millions of dollars to "create, build, and operate" Sea Launch.
It claims that it loaned $180 million to Sea Launch, and guaranteed "almost $450 million in third-party loans" for the venture.
"Each of the partners agreed that if the venture failed, they would reimburse BCSC and Boeing for their fair share of the funding, in an amount reflecting their percentage ownership in the venture," the complaint states.