The U.S. Space Force has chosen SpaceX to perform five of the nation's seven most important defense launches, scheduled for 2026 The financial year.
The assignments were announced by the Space Systems Command as part of the National Security Space Launch program (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 2 — a multi-billion dollar contract, which covers complex military missions to 2029 year. The total cost of the program is estimated at 13,7 A billion dollars, provided for approx 54 launches between 2025 and 2029 for years.
SpaceX will receive five missions 714 millions of dollars. Among them is the launch of the USSF-206 satellite from the Wideband Global Satcom system (WGS-12) manufactured by Boeing, three secret vehicles of the US Space Force and the NROL-86 reconnaissance satellite.
Another contractor, who received the task in this round, — United Launch Alliance (ULA). The company received 428 million dollars for two flights: USSF-88 with the GPS III Follow-on satellite and the NROL-88 reconnaissance mission.
Blue Origin instead, which was also selected for the NSSL Phase program last year 3, this time she did not receive any contract. Its New Glenn rocket is still awaiting certification and, according to forecasts, will not perform any defensive launches until 2027 financial year. Expected, that a future NASA mission to Mars, scheduled for the end of this year, could be a key milestone in testing New Glenn's flight readiness.
The latest decisions of the US Space Force confirm the dominance of SpaceX in the field of national security launches, because the company demonstrates stable reliability and technical superiority in delivering critical cargo into orbit.
Source: https://menafn.com