Spaceflightnow
WASHINGTON -- "ATK and Astrium are joining the growing crowd of companies competing for a $200 million pot of NASA seed money to build a commercial vehicle to haul astronauts and cargo to space, proposing to combine proven U.S. and European rockets into a 300-foot-tall behemoth named Liberty.
The Liberty rocket would stack the cryogenic core stage of Europe's proven Ariane 5 launcher atop a solid-fueled motor developed for the Ares rocket."

"We can lift any potential crew vehicle out there, whether it's a space plane or a capsule," Rominger said in an interview with Spaceflight Now. "We can lift Orion, for that matter."

I think he wants the whole launch market.

"ATK has test-fired two Ares 1 five-segment solid rocket motors for NASA, and a third static test is scheduled later this year. The upgraded Ares motor is based on the space shuttle's solid rocket booster, which has a spotless flight record over the last 23 years."

"Built by EADS Astrium, the Ariane 5 rocket is the world's leading commercial satellite launcher, having flown 41 straight successful missions with communications satellites and European institutional payloads."

"The Liberty rocket would blast off from Kennedy Space Center on 3.1 million pounds of thrust from ATK's Ares solid rocket, then the Ariane's hydrogen-fueled Vulcain 2 engine would ignite to accelerate crews into low Earth orbit."
"ATK would base Liberty launch operations at existing KSC facilities, utilizing retired space shuttle infrastructure and the new mobile launch platform partially constructed for the Ares 1 rocket."

"According to Rominger, there would be very few changes to adapt ATK's five-segment motor for the Liberty program. Engineers at Snecma of France must prove the Ariane 5's Vulcain 2 engine can be ignited in flight."

Easier said than done. Well, we will get you up there, but after that it's on you. ;-)
Nice to see they didn't give up after the defunding the Constellation program, but strengthening the competition.