{"id":24154,"date":"2020-08-07T22:39:01","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T22:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/08\/07\/after-a-hard-fought-competition-ula-and-spacex-to-remain-militarys-rocket-launch-providers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:04:31","slug":"after-a-hard-fought-competition-ula-and-spacex-to-remain-militarys-rocket-launch-providers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2020\/08\/07\/after-a-hard-fought-competition-ula-and-spacex-to-remain-militarys-rocket-launch-providers\/","title":{"rendered":"After a hard-fought competition, ULA and SpaceX to remain military\u2019s rocket launch providers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 United Launch Alliance and SpaceX have won the Space Force\u2019s next-generation rocket contract, locking the two companies in as the Defense Department\u2019s launch providers of choice for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ULA \u2014 a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing \u2014 was awarded $337 million, while SpaceX will be getting $316 million for phase two of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, the Pentagon announced Aug. 7. They beat out Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Phase 2 of the NSSL program is the U.S. military\u2019s vehicle for ordering launch services from fiscal year 2022 to 2027. ULA is slated to get 60 percent of the manifest, with SpaceX getting the remainder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe don\u2019t think this is the last round of innovation that we\u2019re going to see,\u201d Will Roper, the Air Force\u2019s acquisition executive, told reporters during an Aug. 7 roundtable. \u201cAlthough we\u2019re excited for the next five years, we\u2019re looking ahead to \u2018Phase 3\u2019 five years from now and wondering what new leap-ahead, lower-cost technologies might be on the forefront to make assured access to space not just assured, but cheaper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The award pays for the first three missions in 2022, which include two ULA launches and one for SpaceX. All are classified, Roper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is no ceiling on the number of launches that the Pentagon can order in Phase 2, but Roper expects about 32 missions. Funding for those missions will be distributed in future task orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NSSL Phase 2 award moves the U.S. military one step closer to eliminating its dependence on the Russian RD-180 engine, which is used in ULA\u2019s Atlas V rocket. The Defense Department has until 2022 to stop RD-180 procurement, and Roper said he was confident was on \u201ca low risk path\u201d to ensure it will meet that deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the Phase 2 SpaceX offered the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, which are both certified and in use. ULA proposed a new rocket, the Vulcan Centaur, which is under development and expected to make its maiden flight in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVulcan Centaur is the right choice for critical national security space missions and was purpose built to meet all of the requirements of our nation\u2019s space launch needs,\u201d said Tory Bruno, ULA\u2019s president and CEO, said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman were also in the process of creating new launch systems <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/10\/10\/spacex-left-out-of-next-stage-in-air-forces-next-generation-rocket-program\/\" target=_blank>under a 2018 agreement <\/a>with the Space and Missile Systems Center. That organization will now work with those companies on how to best halt the government\u2019s involvement in that development, Roper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe will tie off the [launch service agreement] contracts as soon as we can, at a point that makes sense,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to make sure that work that\u2019s in flux, that we\u2019re able to document what the vendors have done. Where the government has rights to the data and the work, we want to make sure we retain them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unless the companies protest the contract award, the next opportunity for Northrop, Blue Origin or other challengers to compete for national security launches is NSSL Phase 3, but the department\u2019s approach and timeline for that effort is still being determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf funding were available for a Phase 3 launch service agreement, there\u2019s no prohibition on how early we could start Phase 3,\u201d said Roper, who added that studies have shown \u201csome strategic benefits for doing that sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United Launch Alliance will recieve 60 percent of launch mission orders from 2022 to 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":40091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":23,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,163,36,23],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-24154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-space-report","category-newsletters","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FOWPSUZNR5GSZGDQDG7AP76464","arc_canonical_url":"\/space\/2020\/08\/07\/after-a-hard-fought-competition-ula-and-spacex-to-remain-militarys-rocket-launch-providers\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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