On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:29:36 -0800, Pat Flannery
wrote:

Are you talking about the same USAF that created a competition (EELV)
to pick one new, good, all-purpose rocket in order to cut launch costs
and then decided it couldn't live without both, which ended up
increasing costs?

That wasn't the Air Force's idea, Congress did that

Not really. It all comes down to the Russian engine. USAF liked Atlas
but didn't need Congress to tell them it was a bad idea to be
dependent on it, so they picked Boeing too.

Brian