The US military has awarded
providers SpaceX and the ULA another eight launch contracts worth a total of $846 million
The US SSC announced the
decision on May 26th, providing some basic information about which missions were going to which provider.
US military awarding complex,
high-performance missions to ULA’s Vulcan Centaur, a rocket that has never flown and is unlikely to debut before 2023.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket,
which is the most flown and most statistically reliable rocket currently in operation
ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket was
assigned GPS III SV07 ; WGS-11, a geostationary military communications satellite; and USSF-16, USSF-23, and USSF-43, which are classified and unidentified.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket
was assigned USSF-124 (headed to low Earth orbit), USSF-62, and SDA Tranche 1