SpaceX, filed suit Wednesday in federal court, charging that the joint venture - called United Launch Alliance - by the two largest U.S. military contractors is anticompetitive and violates antitrust law.

SpaceX, based in El Segundo, Calif., asked the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to block the joint venture and award SpaceX unspecified damages.

The Federal Trade Commission is conducting an antitrust review of the United Launch Alliance, and a SpaceX spokesman told Reuters that a decision was expected as early as this week. Last month Boeing and Lockheed refiled their application with the FTC.

The plan, which would end nearly a decade of rivalry between the two in the space launch arena, has been supported by the U.S. Air Force as a way to cut the cost of putting military, spy and research satellites into orbit.

The lawsuit charges that Boeing and Lockheed recognized the threat posed by SpaceX's developing family of low-cost launch vehicles and says the two contractors strong-armed the Air Force into an exclusive launch contract through 2011 or beyond.

Boeing spokesman Dan Beck said Boeing had not yet seen the suit but said the alliance was working through the FTC review process. "We're confident (the alliance) will ultimately be approved and meet the launch needs of the U.S. government without being a threat to competition," said Beck.

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