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SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems were among the candidates for the LAC Air Force service contract.
Credit: SpaceNews graph.
WASHINGTON – The US Air Force announced on Wednesday the award of three contracts worth approximately $ 2 billion to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and United Launch Alliance for the development of prototype systems. launch.
The funding is used to develop prototypes of competitive launch systems designed to launch national security payloads. Each company will receive an initial premium of $ 181 million.
The launch service contracts are for the development of the new Blue Origin New Glenn rockets, Northrop Grumman's Omega and ULA's Vulcan Centaur. The awards are part of cost-sharing agreements – called other transaction agreements – that the Air Force is signing with the three companies to ensure that it has multiple competitors. The Air Force has committed a total of $ 500 million in OTA funding for Blue Origin, $ 792 million for Northrop Grumman and $ 967 million for ULA. SpaceX had previously received an LSA award but did not succeed this time.
Launch Service Agreements "will facilitate the development of three prototypes of national launch systems and allow the future competitive selection of two national security system launch service providers for future purchases," Air Force said in a statement Press.
"Our launch program is an excellent example of how we are deploying tomorrow's Air Force faster and smarter," said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. "We are taking full advantage of the authorities that Congress has given us and we will no longer be relying on the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine."
This story was provided by SpaceNews, which covers all aspects of the space industry.
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