Pentagon contract figures show ULA’s Vulcan rocket is getting more

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A close assessment of this year’s military agreements exposes some fascinating things.

United Launch Alliance’s 3rd Vulcan rocket takes off August 12, 2025, with a categorized payload for the United States Space Force.

Credit: United Launch Alliance

Around this time each year, the United States Space Force assembles a Mission Assignment Board to administer agreements to introduce the country’s most vital nationwide security satellites. The military revealed this year’s launch orders Friday, and SpaceX was the huge winner.

Area Systems Command, the system accountable for granting military launch agreements, picked SpaceX to introduce 5 of the 7 objectives up for project this year. United Launch Alliance (ULA), a 50-50 joint endeavor in between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, won agreements for the other 2. These objectives for the Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office are still a minimum of a number of years far from flying.

SpaceX and ULA are the only business with rockets licensed by the Space Force to introduce the Pentagon’s big-ticket satellites. ULA’s Vulcan rocket, which changes the business’s Atlas V, debuted almost 2 years back and effectively introduced its very first nationwide security objective in August. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets each have long performance history of success.

The New Glenn rocket from Jeff Bezos’ area business Blue Origin is likewise part of the Space Force’s lineup of rockets however should finish a minimum of another effective flight before getting military accreditation for the Pentagon’s special National Security Space Launch (NSSL) objectives.

“Space is the ultimate high ground, critical for our national security. With this year’s NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 mission assignments, we continue to assure access to that high ground,” stated Col. Eric Zarybnisky, program executive officer for Assured Access to Space.

The armed force’s choice of SpaceX for the bulk of this year’s objective tasks was not a surprise. The Space Force revealed in April that SpaceX will get most of Space Force launch agreements over the next a number of years, with ULA getting second-most, and Blue Origin eligible as a 3rd launch service provider. Area Force authorities stated at the time they book the right to reapportion objectives in between the 3 service providers if among them faces problem.

A better evaluation of this year’s National Security Space Launch agreements exposes some intriguing things.

Table of Contents

Paying a premium

The Space Force is paying SpaceX $714 million for the 5 launches granted Friday, for approximately $143 million per objective. ULA will get $428 million for 2 objectives, or $214 million for each launch. That’s about 50 percent more pricey than SpaceX’s cost per objective.

While significant, these costs are close to the numbers from the last batch of agreements, when SpaceX charged $121 million per objective, and ULA’s rate was $214 million per launch, the like this year. Part of this rate distinction might be described by SpaceX’s reuse of Falcon boosters, whereas ULA’s Vulcan rocket is a non reusable style.

Look back a little more and you’ll discover ULA’s costs for Space Force launches have, for some factor, increased substantially over the last couple of years. In late 2023, the Space Force granted a $1.3 billion offer to ULA for a batch of 11 launches at a typical expense per objective of $119 million. A couple of months previously, Space Systems Command designated 6 launches to ULA for $672 million, or $112 million per objective.

The typical worth of SpaceX’s military launch agreements stayed relatively stable over the very same timeframe.

ULA and SpaceX contended for military launch orders from 2020 through 2024 as part of the Space Force’s NSSL Phase 2 agreement. The Space Force included more cash to each business’s Phase 2 agreement–$1.1 billion for ULA and $661 million for SpaceX– in mid-2024 to assist cover a greater variety of launches than the military initially anticipated.

Accounting for this financing rise, ULA’s overall haul of 26 Phase 2 launches was available in at approximately $173 million per objective, still considerably less than ULA’s costs this year. SpaceX’s typical launch rate was $182 million, even more than the business’s costs in 2025. Part of SpaceX’s Phase 2 agreement cash approached upgrades of ground facilities and advancement of a prolonged payload fairing for the Falcon Heavy rocket.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with NASA’s Psyche spacecraft launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 13, 2023.

Credit: Chandan Khanna/AFP through Getty Images

The launch orders revealed Friday consist of the 2nd batch of NSSL Phase 3 objectives the Space Force has actually granted to SpaceX and ULA.

It’s crucial to bear in mind that these rates aren’t what ULA or SpaceX would charge an industrial satellite client. The United States federal government pays a premium for access to area. The Space Force, the National Reconnaissance Office, and NASA do not guarantee their launches like an industrial consumer would do. Rather, federal government firms have more insight into their launch specialists, consisting of assessments, flight information evaluations, threat evaluations, and security checks. Federal government objectives likewise usually get concern on ULA and SpaceX’s launch schedules. All of this amounts to more cash.

A heavy problem

4 of the 5 launches granted to SpaceX Friday will utilize the business’s bigger Falcon Heavy rocket, according to Lt. Col. Kristina Stewart at Space Systems Command. One will fly on SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9. This is the very first time a bulk of the Space Force’s yearly launch orders has actually needed the lift ability of a Falcon Heavy, with 3 Falcon 9 booster cores integrating to heave bigger payloads into area.

All variations of ULA’s Vulcan rocket utilize a single core booster, with differing varieties of strap-on solid-fueled rocket motors to offer additional thrust off the launch pad.

Here’s a breakdown of the 7 brand-new objectives designated to SpaceX and ULA:

– USSF-149: Categorized payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Florida

– USSF-63: Categorized payload on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Florida

– USSF-155: Categorized payload SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Florida

– USSF-205: WGS-12 interactions satellite on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Florida

– NROL-86: Categorized payload on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Florida

– USSF-88: GPS IIIF-4 navigation satellite on a ULA Vulcan VC2S (2 strong rocket boosters) from Florida

– NROL-88: Categorized payload on a ULA Vulcan VC4S (4 strong rocket boosters) from Florida

Stephen Clark is an area press reporter at Ars Technica, covering personal area business and the world’s area firms. Stephen blogs about the nexus of innovation, science, policy, and company on and off the world.

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