SpaceX Replaces ULA As The Pentagon’s Top Launch Service Provider

The U.S. Space Force shuffled the lineup for launching its next series of high-priority national security space missions, swapping the lead position of heritage provider United Launch Alliance for competitor SpaceX.

Given price competition from SpaceX, United Launch Alliance (ULA) said it expected to emerge from the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 competition with a smaller percentage of missions than it had secured during the preceding Phase 2 program, CEO Tory Bruno told reporters on the sidelines of the 40th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs on April 7.

• ULA CEO says its 40% share was expected
• Blue Origin wins contract to become a third provider

“We certainly offered a proposal that could support the 60% share like we had the first time around, but I actually anticipated a greater likelihood of receiving the 40%, and that is what we received,” Bruno said. “It’s plenty of missions. We’re happy to get it.

“We expect we’ll fly a predominance of high-energy-orbit missions, which is our specialty,” he added.

The Space Force announced on April 4 that it had selected SpaceX, ULA and Blue Origin to provide launch services under its NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 program, worth a cumulative $13.7 billion. The program covers approximately 54 national security missions, with launches beginning in fiscal 2027.

The service initially anticipated the program would cost $15.5 billion but was able to cut $1.8 billion thanks to economies of scale, Col. Douglas Pentecost, deputy program executive officer for the Space Force’s Assured Access to Space (AATS) program, told reporters April 8.

The Phase 3 contract follows the Space Force’s ongoing NSSL Phase 2 program, which includes missions scheduled for launch in 2022-27. Under Phase 2, which was awarded in 2020, ULA received about 60% of the launch assignments, and SpaceX took the rest.

In Phase 3 Lane 2, the split was reversed. “I felt that winning the 60% the first time was a little bit of an upset,” Bruno said. “I believe that [SpaceX] expected to win 60% then, the community thought that, and I thought I would get 40, and I was surprised to have won 60. Therefore, I believed this time around they would compete that much harder.

“I was not going to price-dive in order to guarantee a win,” he added. “This is a conventional business. I bid my cost, plus a little bit, then I get profit that I can put into reuse technology, and so I bid that way. I don’t have as many levers with external investment as other people have, for example. . . . It kind of came out the way we wanted.”

Blue Origin, as the newest and third provider, was awarded nearly $2.4 billion for NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2. The Space Force earmarked seven missions to fly on the company’s New Glenn heavy-lift launch vehicle, Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, program executive officer for AATS, told reporters April 8.

The Space Force identified SpaceX as the “Requirement 1 provider,” receiving 28 missions, or about 60% of the remaining 47 launches, under a $5.9 billion contract.

Meanwhile, ULA was awarded $5.3 billion for approximately 19 missions, which will be about 40% of the launches procured in 2025-29 and launched in 2027-32.

The contracts are part of the Space Force’s new dual-lane launch procurement strategy. Phase 3 Lane 1 was established in 2024 and is meant to support new launch service providers to fly less demanding missions and lower-priority payloads.

Lane 2 requires full vehicle certification and the ability to reach any orbit to fulfill the mission requirements. Four offers were received in response to the solicitation, the contract announcement stated. The fourth bidder was not identified.

In conjunction with the Phase 3 Lane 2 awards, the Space Force assigned the program’s first nine missions. SpaceX won seven launches, collectively worth $845.8 million, and ULA won two, worth $427.6 million.

Blue Origin will be eligible for mission assignments beginning in fiscal 2026, pending completion of NSSL certification for the New Glenn.

All competitors for the NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 program had to provide a credible plan to certify their launch vehicles for the full range of national security mission needs and meet requirements for nine Space Force-provided reference orbits. The companies also must be able to launch from both Cape Canaveral SFS and Vandenberg SFB, California. The deadline to achieve those certifications is Oct. 1, 2026, the Space Force said.

SpaceX, with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, is the only current provider with fully NSSL-certified vehicles and the ability to launch from both ranges. ULA’s Vulcan rocket was certified for NSSL missions on March 26 after two demonstration missions, but its Western Range launchpad at Vandenberg remains “in work,” Panzenhagen said.

Not all of the certification requirements must be met at one time, and a company can be certified for “a subset of missions” while working toward the ability to service the broader range of missions, she added.

Blue Origin’s proposal included a credible plan to certify its New Glenn rocket and to launch from both ranges by Oct. 1, 2026, Pentecost noted.

Since ULA is not yet certified to fly the Vulcan from the West Coast, it was ineligible for launch service contracts for missions in the first batch of nine Phase 3 Lane 2 payloads that are required to fly from Vandenberg, she added.

Meanwhile, ULA is preparing for its first Vulcan NSSL missions from Cape Canaveral, under the Phase 2 program, this summer. The payloads are ready and “waiting for those missions,” Panzenhagen said.